United By Red Tests
by 00Awesome
Summary: AU fic. Charles Carmichael and Sarah Walker are assigned as partners after the completion of both their red tests. Both still reeling from the consequences of their actions, perhaps they can find help in each other. And this is while trying to bring down an enemy organization. Action, adventure and Charah.Please R&R.
1. Assignments

**AN: So if you remember a little while ago I had a poll, asking which of my 'Stories I'm Working On' works should be published. Unfortunately not that many people voted but this was the winner. I watched You Tube clips of the red test scenes like five times to make sure this was as accurate as possible. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please review. **

* * *

**United By Red Tests**  
**  
****Chapter 1: Assignments**

"His name is Hunter Perry, your mission is to kill him," the Director said.

Charles "Chuck" Carmichael froze. The analyst-turned field agent in training was wide eyes as he was given his final exam. He never thought he'd have to do this, okay. well he thought but he always prayed he wouldn't have to. But it was his final exam, his red test. If he could kill the mole then he would be a real fully-fledged agent, simple as that.

But with emotions, nothing was simple. Because those little feelings, those little voices at the back of your head, they like to complicate everything you do. Every little action was either right or wrong, or in between, or made you feel guilty. And his first kill, that was a field day for those little voices.

"Problem, Carmichael?" Graham asked.

"Uh," Chuck looked at the photo of the man he was supposed to kill. "No, sir. No problem." But he had to do this. To become an agent, a real spy, to be somebody.

"Excellent," Graham replied.

But he wasn't a killer. It wasn't him, he couldn't do it, he couldn't take somebody else' life. But at the same time, how could he not? It was his real chance, to be a spy, to be an agent, to be not just some guy who arranged things for missions, no, he was going to be a real spy. There were those voices again, telling him different things, conflicting with each other, they were going to give him a headache.

"You know where and when," Graham said, gesturing to the documents.

"Uh, yes, yes sir. Tonight," Chuck replied.

Graham nodded. "Very well then. Dismissed, Carmichael. Chuck left Graham's office. As the CIA director sat back in his chair, he received a phone call, he picked up the phone and glanced at the caller ID.

"Evans, secure," came the voice on the other end.

"Graham, secure," he replied. "What is it?"

"Walker's just landed in Paris. Her red test is going to take place tonight. Which in your time would be about six pm I'm guessing."

"Very good, Agent Evans," Graham said. "How is she?"

"Nervous, I think. Trying not to show it and succeeding for the most part, but there are those fleeting moments."

Graham nodded. "I see. Goodbye, Evans," he put down the phone. He looked at the copies of the files of the two agents, he'd assigned red tests tonight. Tonight, if all went according to plan, the CIA would have gained two very talented agents.

* * *

Chuck was nervous as hell. Pull the trigger, it's that simple. But it wasn't simple, he was taking someone else' life. It was so hard to think.

'Don't think, just pull the trigger', was what his mentor, NSA agent, Major John Casey had told him. But that was different. Casey was a burnout, an old school assassin, completely unquestioning about his orders. Chuck so badly wanted to be a spy, but at the same time, he so badly wanted to be human, not to ignore all his emotions like most spies. It was a tear between the agent he wanted to be and the humble nerd he still was.

He grasped the gun in his hands and fired three rounds at the target. Two straight in the chest, one a little lower.

"Not bad, Carmichael," Casey remarked, walking into the range. "But try aim one in the head. Surefire way to kill the bastard mark."

"Thanks for the tip, Casey," Chuck said. "I appreciate it."

Casey grunted. "Don't get your lady feelings all over the place. I'm only doing this because General Beckman assigned me here."

"I know, Casey," Chuck said. "As you've told me so may times, you don't want to be here. But after this is done, won't you miss me, just a little bit?" Chuck teased.

Another grunt.

"Okay, I guess not," Chuck said, loading more ammo into the gun. Casey saw the trainee's hand's shaking as he put in the bullets. Despite training and everything, Chuck was still uncomfortable with guns and the idea of killing someone.

"Nervous, Carmichael?" he asked.

"Yeah, I wanna be able to go through with this. I know he's a bad guy, Graham gave me the info on him, I mean, he's smuggling CIA information to enemy organizations. He's responsible for tortures and deaths, some of innocent civilians," Chuck babbled, trying to believe that this guy was so evil that he could kill him. But as much as he tried, he couldn't seem to convince himself.

"Don't think, just pull the trigger," Casey repeated. "If you think, all your lady feelings and emotions will come into play and you won't be able to do it."

"I can't, Casey," Chuck said. "I can't just not think and shoot. It's not me," Chuck said.

Casey nodded, he had gotten to know the kid over the past few months, and no matter how hard he tried, Carmichael was not hardwired like a killer. It just wasn't him.

"I dunno what to tell you, Carmichael," Casey said. "You're not like me. I can't relate."

"What about your red test?" Chuck asked. "What was it like for you?"

Casey sighed. "I was already in the marines when I was recruited by the NSA. By that time I'd been to war and seen so much blood and death around me, it seemed that it was only one life," he said walking away.

"Where are you going?" Chuck asked.

"None of your business," Casey replied. Then, turning around for a second, he glanced at Chuck and then at the target. "Remember, aim for the head."

* * *

**_Paris, France_**

At approximately the same time, in Paris, France, Sarah Walker was preparing for her red test. Much had changed since she was recruited to the CIA at seventeen. She was 22 now, a Harvard graduate, with a new look, new skills and soon enough, a new title. She was already one of, if not the CIA's most promising trainee, all she had to do was pull the trigger to become the best of the best now.

A nameless woman as far as she was concerned, or supposed to be at least. Graham had told her that this woman was a traitor, that she was bad. But this wasn't a fairy tale where there was the hero and the villain, nothing was purely that simple. A time, a place. Midnight, the streets of Paris.

"You okay?" Evans said, walking into the room. Joseph Evans was a CIA agent, based in Paris. He was supposed to supervise Walker's red test.

"Yeah, fine," she said, coolly, if only she felt that way.

Evans wasn't stupid, he was a trained agent, he'd seen many trainees go through their red tests. But none seemed to succeed in keeping their emotions as in check as Walker. A lot of trainees tried to act tough, as if it was no big deal and would only come to terms with what they'd done after. Others cracked under pressure and couldn't go through with it. He wasn't sure which direction Walker was heading in.

"You sure about that?"

"I'm fine, Evans," she said, her facade never wavering.

"I just alerted the director that you've arrived."

"Yeah, thanks," she said dully.

"You seem pretty confident," he remarked.

"I guess I am."

Shifting his eyes, towards the wall, Evans left the room. The minute she was sure he was gone, Sarah stretched her neck and looked up at the ceiling. She was in no way confident about this. Could she really just pull the trigger? Being a spy was one thing, she knew that, but this was...Half of her wanted to run, to back off, to quit the CIA if it meant not having to pull the trigger. All those bottled up emotions she had from her years as a con-artist and then a spy? They all came crashing down.

She leaned back on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling. She knew she was going to have to do this. Sarah's mind drifted back to when she was first recruited by Graham, at the time it seemed like her best option, now it seemed like she had been played. The CIA was supposed to help people, save lives, but this...It seemed like the exact opposite of what she thought the CIA stood for.

Just then her phone rang. She picked it up and saw Graham's face on the caller ID. Collecting her thoughts together, she answered.

"Walker, secure."

"Graham secure."

"Agent Walker, Evans alerted me of your arrival in Paris."

"Yes, sir."

"I wanted to make sure that you were alright, going through with this. Some agents get cold feet, fear strikes into their hearts, that's how we lose them."

Sarah took a deep breath. "Well you're not going to lose me, Sir." She'd basically said she was going to go through with it now.

"Very good, Sarah. Report back to DC afterwards, take a few days off if you need it."

"Yes, Director." The call ended.

* * *

**_Midnight  
Paris, France_**

She'd only seen a photo. The photo of the woman she was meant to kill in cold blood, the woman who Graham said was a traitor. Sarah wanted to protect her country, to be an agent, she only wished that the costs always weren't so high sometimes. The gun was in her hand, concealed and within reach in her coat pocket. Sarah saw the woman, she walked past, every thing was going according to plan.

Sarah walked past and the woman dropped something, a piece of jewelry perhaps, she wasn't sure. The woman bent down to pick it up. And then suddenly a thought flashed through her head.

_'I can't do this. I can't kill her. Not with her on the ground like that, I just can't. Keep walking, just keep walking.' _

Sarah walked past a car, and in the rear-view mirror, she saw the woman reaching for a weapon. Or what she thought was one at least. Turning around, Sarah raised the gun and fired.

The shot went straight into the woman's chest. She fell, the smoke from the gun still lingered in the air. Sarah's jaw dropped, if only for a second. Had she actually done that?

She turned and looked at the woman. She wanted to go back and check, but there was no time, she knew that.

Sarah Walker walked away, she was an official spy now. But at what cost? This was saving lives, but if that was all it was, why did it feel so wrong?

She was sure of one thing. This was the worst day of her life.

* * *

**_Burbank, California_**

**_8:30PM_**

Chuck ran down by the tracks, chasing Perry. They'd met briefly at the restaurant before the mission kicked in. He gave Perry a chance to be arrested, he didn't take it and fired and bolted. Chuck sped after him, gun in hand. It still felt weird after being used to a tranq gun for so long. He wondered if Casey was watching, he probably was since he was meant to be supervising.

Perry tripped and Chuck quickly caught up while he was on the ground. Chuck pointed the gun at him.

"Don't, don't, don't do it. This is exactly what they want," Perry stammered.

"I gave you a chance," Chuck said.

"Please, I had no choice."

Chuck's finger squeezed into the trigger, but then retracted. In that second, Perry saw the hesitation and reached for his own gun. The bullet fired. Chuck could have swore there was an echo, but it was probably just his mind playing tricks on him. Perry was on the ground, dead.

"Carmichael, what's happening?" came Casey's voice through the earpiece.

"Perry's dead," Chuck replied. He still couldn't believe he'd done it. He'd killed someone in cold blood. Self defense, he tried to convnce himself, yet his mind was wrapped with guilt. Casey jogged over.

"Nice shot, Carmichael," Casey remarked examining Perry's body.

Then he spoke into his watch. "Carmichael's a spy."

* * *

**AN: Well? What did you think? Okay I know that this chapter was kind of dark-ish, but it will get better, you know, eventually. In case you're wondering Chuck and Sarah will meet up, either in the next chapter or the chapter after that. That is if you guys want me to continue. Please review and tell me what you think. Reviews make me smile.**


	2. New Partners

**AN: When I came up with this idea in the back of my mind a good God knows how many months ago, I had no idea it would have such a good reception. So you can imagine my surprise when after school, I went online and found an odd thirty or so emails of reviews, story alerts, etc. Thanks to all you guys who have Favorited or reviewed, you are just awesome.**

**The title for this story was kind of stolen from the Capcom video game, Rival Schools: United By Fate, which honestly I never played but heard of and while thinking up the title, one thing led to another. **

**Anyway, here is the next chapter of United By By Red Tests. Hope you enjoy and please review. **

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**Chapter 2: New Partners**

**_Two Weeks Later  
Washington DC  
Sarah's Apartment_**

Two weeks. That was how long it had been since the worst day of her life. Since the day she'd killed her mark in cold blood. After her arrival from Paris she wanted to jump straight into missions, try forget anything ever happened. Instead, Graham gave her two weeks off. He called in a vacation. Sarah thought of it as torture.

Trapped, with nothing to do but think about what she'd done. She couldn't sleep. And once she'd finished crying her eyes out about what she'd done and no more tears could come, she tried to work out in the gym. Between thinking and working out, Sarah didn't do too much. The punching bag in the gym needed to be replaced after she'd been at it, Lord knows how many times when she couldn't sleep.

She was at the gym, pounding the crap out of yet another punching bag when her phone rang. She saw it was Graham and gave a final hit to the punching bag before answering.

"Walker, secure."

"Graham, secure. Agent Walker, I'm afraid your vacation is going to come to an end," he said.

_'Thank God,' _Sarah thought. "I know, Sir."

"I need you to come in now."

"Of course, Sir. What is this about?"

"You have a new partner."

"Who is is?" she asked.

"I believe you may have heard of him. His name is Charles Carmichael."

* * *

**_Washington DC  
Chuck's Apartment_**

It felt like he'd been tricked. Tricked by Graham, Flemming, the CIA. Everyone in this business tricked him. Chuck still couldn't believe he'd shot the mark, killed Perry. It was so unlike him. Or who he thought he was. Who was he now anyway? It probably wasn't Chuck Bartowski, the nerd who walked in after Stanford.

The thought of him changing kept him up many a night since that test. He wondered what Ellie would say if she found out. She didn't know about him being a spy, neither did Devon or Morgan, it was to keep them safe. He'd talked to a CIA therapist a few times during his 'vacation' and now he was lying flat on the bed in his apartment. He hadn't seen Casey since the day after his red test. He'd probably been assigned somewhere else. Chuck had stocked up on cheese balls, he always ate them when he was feeling depressed.

His phone rang, rolling on his side he picked it up.

"Carmichael, it's Graham. I need you to report in as soon as possible."

"Uh, yeah, sure. What's this concerning?"

"You have a new partner, Carmichael."

Chuck raised a brow slightly. "Um, sure. Who is that?"

"Agent Sarah Walker."

Chuck almost choked on a cheese ball he'd been eating. He cleared his throat a couple of times. "I'm sorry, we're talking about _the _Sarah Walker?" Chuck had read some of her mission reports in his days as an analyst. Beautiful, fast, strong and very capable apparently, she was nothing short of being the perfect agent. Not to mention being personally groomed by Graham, himself.

"That is correct. Agent Carmichael. I'll see you soon," Graham hung up.

* * *

**_CIA Headquarters  
Washington DC  
30 Minutes Later_**

After showering and changing Sarah Walker made her way down to Graham's office, like she had so many times prior. She was getting a new partner, Charles Carmichael, an analyst-turned-field agent.

She didn't know too much about him. He was smart, definitely, he had only been on a handful of missions but so far, all proved successful and he seemed to do his job well enough. Sarah wasn't too used to working with someone else, aside from a few missions with her old handler, Ryker and a few with some of her training partners, Sarah worked alone. And needless to say she did it very well. She wondered what it was going to be like with this Carmichael guy.

She really hoped that he wasn't some cocky, arrogant, James Bond wannabe type douche bag. She'd seen those far too many times to count and it was always a pain when she had to work with them. This Carmichael guy, just based on the reports seemed okay enough, but then again, reports could always be biased in some way.

At least this whole new partner thing got her mind off the red test, off the day she was trying so hard to put behind her. Sarah pushed those thoughts out of her head as she opened Graham's door and saw Carmichael sitting by Graham.

He was tall, lanky, with big brown eyes and hair that seemed to be trimmed short. And somehow, instantly, Sarah knew in that moment that he was different. He stood up and offered a handshake.

"Agent Walker, hi, um, Charles Carmichael," he rambled nervously as she shook his hand. "This is such an honor to meet you, I've heard remarkable things about you," he smiled.

"Pleased to meet you, Charles," she replied. "And thank you. I've heard great things about you, myself."

He smiled again, nervously. "Well, thank you. And please call me Chuck."

"Agents," the Director said as Sarah and Chuck took their seats. "I've read your files and some of your mission reports and I have decided that the two of you would make a good team. I trust that there are no objections."

The two agents both nodded.

"Good, then its settled. You are now partners. I suggest you get acquainted, you'll be briefed on your first mission later. Dismissed."

* * *

Sarah began to walk away after the two of them exited the Director's office when Chuck called out and half-ran after her.

"Agent Walker. Um, uh, do you wanna go somewhere for lunch maybe," he rambled, his hand trying to flatten his hair. "It's just that Graham said we should get acquainted and it would be strictly professional, I swear. But I uh, I understand completely if you have other plans so-"

"Chuck," Sarah decided to cut him off. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Sure, I'd like that. And please, call me Sarah."

They ended up going to a local Italian restaurant, where for the first time in two weeks, either of them felt at ease. It was just something about each other, they could find some amount of comfort.

"Pizza looks good," Sarah mused.

"Sure, what kind?"

"Vegetarian, no olives."

Chuck ordered one. After which, they sat in silence for a little while, Chuck was pretty nervous. He had just been partnered with the Sarah Walker, the star former trainee and agent. It was the first time in a while Chuck wasn't feeling guilty as much as he was nervous. It was actually a nice change of pace.

"So uh, tell me about yourself," Sarah broke the silence.

"Me? Wow, uh, what about me? Um, I was recruited at Stanford. Studied electrical engineering and I was recruited as an analyst."

"Stanford? That's impressive."

"Thank you."

"What changed?"

"Well I guess it started when I read the reports of some agents," he paused for a moment. "And there was this one, where the agent had been captured and tortured for information and almost killed. Luckily, he managed to escape, but by the time he got back he had broken ribs and gunshot wounds and injuries. And it got me thinking," Chuck looked down for a moment.

"Here's this guy, going through hell for his country, you know? Being a real hero to protect people. And then me? I sit at a computer reading mission reports and cracking codes and that's when I decided, you know, I wanted to be an agent, actually save the world and help people, not just sit in front of a computer screen," he managed a light chuckle at the end."

"That's very admirable," Sarah said.

"Thank you," he replied. They stopped talking as the pizza arrived.

"And as for analysts, you guys do way more than sit in front of computer screens," Sarah said.

"Well thanks, Agent Walker."

"I'm serious. Field agents, we couldn't work without you guys."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Oh come on, Walker, I got the essay question, now its your turn," he joked.

Sarah laughed. "Well I was recruited in high school."

"By Graham, right?"

"Yeah."

"I've heard he only recruits the best of the best," he said.

"Well, high school was not the best time of my life. Graham picked me, gave me a chance to be a spy. I took it."

They had just finished eating lunch when Sarah got a call from Graham.

"Walker, secure."

"Graham, secure. Is Carmichael with you?"

"Yes."

"You two have a briefing. Be here in fifteen minutes," Graham hung up.

Sarah pressed the end button on her phone. "We've got a briefing."

"Now?"

"Yep, Graham wants us there in fifteen."

* * *

**_15 Minutes Later  
Director Graham's Office  
CIA Headquarters_**

"His name is Yassen Kazakov," Graham slid a folder across his desk, it had a picture of a stern-faced man with a scar across his cheek and blonde hair. "He's Russian, an arms dealer on the black market. But the real catch is this," Graham flipped the page to show a chip.

"A chip?" Chuck asked.

"A CIA agent went rogue around six months back, but he stole a chip containing CIA Intel. We captured the rogue agent but he didn't have the chip on him and we were unable to find its location. We now realize that Kazakov has it in his possession. And to our knowledge, he's planning to sell it."

"To who?"

Graham flipped the page to fond a picture of a short-balding Asian man. "This is Hee-Soon Kim, he works with North Korean Intelligence. We believe he is meeting Kazakov at a party at the Bernstein Hotel, tonight. We need you to find Kazakov and bring in both him and the chip," Graham said.

"What about the buyer?"

"The buyer is expendable. What we really need is Kazakov and the chip. Although if you can, bringing in Kim is a step up."

"Why do we need Kazakov?" Sarah asked.

"The CIA believe that the rogue agent was just one of many, that there is a group of rogue agents, some still within the CIA. If we get Kazakov, maybe he'll talk. He'll tell us who they are."

"And if he doesn't co-operate?"

"Carmichael, you know as well as I do that the CIA has ways of making people talk," Graham said. "Any questions about the mission?"

Neither agent spoke.

"Good, attire is formal. You are both dismissed."

* * *

**_Bernstein Hotel  
Washington DC  
7:30PM_**

The Bernstein Hotel was five-star, swanky, the type of place you'd never expect at arms dealer to be at. Chuck and Sarah entered, him looking very dapper in his suit and her looking stunning, as usual.

"Any sign of Kazakov?" she asked.

"Nope. If he's here, he's not making much of an appearance." Chuck made his way through the crowd, until he finally caught sight of Kazakov. Fairly tall, about 6'1, blonde hair and a stern face, Chuck could just make out the scar on his cheek.

"Sarah I just found Kazakov, he's chatting with an Asian man, I think its Kim."

"Alright, Chuck, where are they?"

"Near the bar," he answered.

"Okay, I will take care of Kazakov, you bring in, Kim."

"Okay. Got it. Wait," Chuck said as he noticed the two men moving away. "They're going somewhere. They're probably handling the exchange right now, we should follow them."

Chuck and Sarah stayed a reasonable distance away from Kim and Kazakov, the two of them made their was down to a cellar-type area, probably one of the basements in the hotel. The door was shut and Sarah began taking off her shoes.

"What are you doing?"

"Okay, I'm gonna go distract them and then you tranq them and then we look for the chip. Sounds like a plan?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Just uh, just be careful."

"I will." His concern was touching, she would admit that much.

Snapping off one of the heels from her shoes and messing up her hair, Sarah opened the door and 'drunkly' hit the lights and half-stumbled down the few steps to the bottom where Kazakov and Kim were.

"Oh, it's so bright," she said, pretending to be drunk. "Hello. Anyone here?" she called out as she pretended just to notice the two men. "Oh, God," she laughed. "Oh God, I am so sorry,I've um, I'm just a little bit lost and had a bit too much wine."

Sarah noticed Kazakov and Kim's attention turning slightly more away from their deal and onto her. So things were working.

"I broke my heel and my ankle, kind of really hurts right now and..." She needn't say anymore as a tranq dart fired into Kim's neck. Kazakov reached for his gun but Sarah hit him on the head with her heel, distracting him enough so Chuck could tranq him as well. Both men dropped to the ground as Chuck came down the steps.

"Nice work, Chuck."

"Thanks, you too. Okay, let's find this chip."

Fifteen minutes later, they've found the chip and a CIA car is coming to take in Kim and Kazakov and bring them back. Chuck was glad he didn't have to use a 'real' gun tonight. He may have passed his test, but he didn't want to turn into a killing machine, into a cold-hearted assassin. Anyway, tonight went well.

* * *

**_9:00PM  
Director Graham's Office  
Washington DC. _**

"Good work tonight, Agent Walker, Agent Carmichael," Graham praised.

"Sir, has Kazakov said anything?" Sarah asked.

"He is still in interrogation, Agent Walker," Graham replied. "But, both of you, you did an excellent job tonight. Although, I would have expected nothing less from the both of you."

"Thank you, Sir," they said in unison.

"Hmmm. I knew pairing the two of you as a team was a good idea. Get some rest, you're both dismissed."

"Sarah," Chuck said after they'd both left Graham's office. "Just want to say, it was great working with you."

She smiled.

"I guess the reports were right, you are nothing short of excellent in the field," he remarked.

"Thanks, Chuck. You are not so bad if I do say so myself."

It had been the first time in two weeks that either of them had felt at ease, not just having the mission to distract them from the guilt of their red tests, but working with each other. They had been acting professional and not talking about the red tests because it might jeopardize the mission. But all in all, they were very compatible.

"So I'll see you tomorrow," Chuck said.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

* * *

**AN: What do you think? This chapter was lighter than the first one and yeah, now you've got Chuck and Sarah working together as a team. I know that the red tests in their partnership didn't really play a role in this chapter, but it will, eventually. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review. **


	3. Missions and Supercomputers

**AN: Thank you to everyone one who has favorited, reviewed or story-alerted, you guys are truly awesome and what keep me writing. My Dad came back from a trip to the States and got me Chuck Season 5 on DVD (Yay!) which I have been watching. Anyway, I'm off school for two weeks but I still have homework, either way I should have more time to write. Hope you enjoy and please review. **

* * *

**Chapter 3: Missions and Supercomputers**

**_CIA Interrogation Cell  
Washington DC_**

"Who are the rogue agents!" Yassen Kazakov felt his head being slammed against the wall, his arms, uselessly tied behind his back as blood dripped from his head down to his face.

"Go to hell," he replied in his thick Russian accent.

"You'll be there long before me," the integrator replied. He picked up a syringe from the ground and plunged it into Kazakov's neck.

"This is Amonia, it'll eat you from he inside out unless you decide that you want to tell me who the rogue agents are."

Kazakov scoffed and managed a smirk. "You wouldn't. You need me to tell you who the rogue agents are, without me, you're as good as at step one with finding out."

_'Damn, he's smart.' _The interrogator thought as he removed the syringe from his neck and dropped it on the ground. Punching Kazakov in the nose just twice more before he left the room and picked up his phone.

"He's not talking."

Graham sighed on the other end of the line. Yassen Kazakov wasn't talking about the rogue agents. Right now Kazakov was the only link they had to finding out who the rogue agents were, and he wasn't talking.

"I don't care how long it takes, we need him to talk," Graham said.

"He knows that he's too valuable for us to kill."

"Listen to me, we need him to give us the intel. What about the offer?"

"We made him a pretty good one, wouldn't budge. Witness protection and everything."

"Then don't call me again until you have exploited every possible method to inflict pain on him and he has talked. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

The line went dead. Sighing, the interrogator went back in the room with a big machete in his hand.

"I'm still not going to talk," Kazakov mocked.

The interrogator showed the machete in his hand. "You sure about that?"

"You won't kill me."

"Yeah, but I think you could stand losing some body parts."

* * *

**_1 Month Later  
Edgeworth 24 Hour Gym  
_****_Washington DC  
_****_6:00PM_**

Sarah had been pounding at the bag at the gym for a good hour. Even if the guilt had lessened it was still there and she had to take it out on something. Actually, it was the first time in a while she'd been here, missions and working with Chuck was usually enough to enable her to drop off the sleep almost instantly.

Kazakov apparently had sung like a canary when his limbs were threatened and she and Chuck had spent the last month trying to track down arms dealers and rogue agents.

After her workout she took a quick shower and headed out. About five minutes out she felt someone put their hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Sar-Ow!" Sarah had twisted the arm behind his back and he was against teh wall.

Upon realizing who it was Sarah released her grip.

"Oh, sorry, Chuck." She said.

"No, no. It's my fault, I should know better then to try sneak up on a trained spy," he grinned.

"Although if you can't get out of that hold, should I be worried about our partnership in the field?" she asked, half teasingly.

"Nah, I knew it was you, so...Yeah."

Sarah smiled. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Well, I figured I'd get some exercise, you know. Keep in shape, can't let myself go know that I'm in the field."

"I guess you're right."

"So, uh, see you around."

"Bye, Chuck."

"Wait, Sarah," he said. She turned around.

"Yeah?"

"You wanna have dinner, later?" he asked, no knowing where exactly the courage came from.

"Dinner?"

"Yeah, I mean we could uh, go somewhere or get pizza or something," he rambled, Chuck felt like he was back in his awkward, nerdy teenager phase again. This was a freaking nightmare.

"Okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Chuck smiled. "Great, so what do you think, pizza or..." he was interrupted as Sarah's phone rang. She answered it.

"Hello?"

A few one-worded responses were exchanged before Sarah hung up the phone.

"We have a mission. Graham says its urgent."

"Yeah, I figured," Chuck tried to hide his disappointment.

"Rain-check?" she said. "I'd like to have dinner or something, I mean just cause we can't go tonight, doesn't mean that we can't some other time," Sarah suggested.

"I'd like that."

* * *

**_Director Graham's Office  
CIA Headquarters  
Washington DC  
6:30PM_**

Graham slid a brown folder across his desk to Chuck and Sarah like he had done so many times prior. This one containing the face of one Agent Tommy Delgado, a traitor.

"This is Tommy Delgado," Graham spoke. "He's a CIA operative but he's gone rogue and we believe that he's working on a project for FULCRUM."

"Fulcrum?" Sarah asked.

"When we interrogated Kazakov on the rogue agents, he said something about a group of CIA agents banding together and calling themselves FULCRUM. What there motives are specifically, we are unsure of but we do know that they are after the Intersect."

"What's the Intersect?" Chuck asked this time.

Graham sighed. "The two of you are one of the few people in the CIA who is to know about this, so listen carefully. After 9/11, the CIA and the NSA were told to 'play nice' and combine their Intel."

"And the Intel was combined in a unique way, it was in a computer," a voice finished. Chuck and Sarah turned around to see a short woman in a General's uniform, with two guards.

"This is General Dianne Beckman, she's head of the Intersect project on the NSA side of things," Graham said.

"So the Intersect is like some supercomputer?" Chuck asked.

"That is correct," Beckman said. "Agent Carmichael, Agent Walker, you have quite the reputations despite your short time at the CIA," Beckman said.

_'Short time? I've only been here since I was seventeen and decided to devote my whole life to this,' _Sarah scoffed in her mind.

"We believe FULCRUM is trying to steal the Intersect," Graham said. "Capturing Delgado is our best shot at finding out about FULCRUM and how much they know about the Intersect."

Beckman cleared her throat. "We bugged his hotel room and he is going to be attending a party tonight."

"Agent Walker and Agent Carmichael will be attending as guests to capture Delgado," Graham finished. Beckman shot him a look, it was a rather frightening look to be coming from such a small woman.

"Of course, the NSA have decided that it is necessary to send one of their agents on the mission," Graham said.

"Yes," Beckman said as someone else walked into the room. Chuck couldn't believe it.

"Major Casey, may I introduce you to Agent Walker, and I believe you've already met Agent Carmichael."

Casey grunted a reluctantly shook hands with Chuck, Sarah and Graham.

"You have quite the record, Major," Sarah remarked. She'd heard about Casey, burnout, a cold-school killer, a marine and completely unquestioning about his orders."

"Could say the same about you, Walker," he replied.

"Agent Carmichael and Agent Walker's covers will be as guests and Major Casey will be bartender," Graham spoke. "Also Agents Carmichael and Walker will be posing as a couple. I trust that is not a problem for either of you?"

Chuck and Sarah looked at each other before turning back to Graham.

"No sir," they said in unison.

"Very well then. The mission takes place tomorrow at eight, dress is formal. You are both dismissed."

Beckman nodded to imply the same thing to Casey. "Major."

Casey nodded back in response. "General."

* * *

The three spies exited the office of Director Graham and into the hallways.

"Well, Carmichael. I was thought it would just be a matter of time before we saw each other again," he grunted.

"Nice to see you too, Casey. Where have you been since, uh..."

"Not important to you," he replied. "I'll see you tomorrow Carmichael, Walker," Casey said before heading off.

"Talk about the cold shoulder," Chuck muttered.

"So you've met Casey before?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, he was my mentor when I was training to become a spy," Chuck replied.

"Was he always like that?"

"Pretty much."

"I figured. I mean if his record is true to his personality," Sarah replied.

"He's a good mentor."Chuck spoke. "He's just a little uh, cold and uh," Chuck managed a nervous smile. "Yeah."

* * *

**_The Next Day  
Outside the Carson-Bennet Hotel  
Washington DC  
7:50PM_**

"So one more time," Sarah went over the details of their cover relationship. "You are?"

"Charles Carmichael, CEO of Unisef Computers, highly successful, thinking about entering the next Americas Cup."

"The Americas Cup wasn't on the file," Sarah said.

"I know, I just thought it added some extra depth to my cover persona," Chuck smiled.

"Carmichael, this mission isn't about your fake hopes and your aspirations," Casey said with a weird look on his face. "Just get in socialize enough so that we can find Delgado and get out," he fiddled with his bartenders uniform. "This stupid bow-tie is killing me."

"Alright, alright. What's next?" Chuck said.

"Okay, who am I?" Sarah tested.

"Sarah Walker, my girlfriend of two, an incredibly gorgeous philanthropist," he smiled at her. Sarah tried to hide the blush in her face from coming out.

"Thank you, Chuck. Alright, how did we meet?"

"We met at sales conference in New York City when you were still working with your former employer," Chuck recited.

"Alright, that's good. Just remember to use those facts if people start asking questions, although the quicker we find Delgado, the better."

"Got it."

* * *

**_Carson-Bennet Hotel  
Washington DC  
8:00PM_**

Chuck and Sarah made their entrance through the door. The Carson-Bennet was five star, expensive and right now, kind of crowded Casey was stationed at the bar, wiping down the counter, grunting and shooting looks.

"So we introduce ourselves to the host, establish out presence as guests and then get Delgado," Chuck confirmed.

"That's the plan."

They introduced themselves to the host, Lyle Cross, a sandy-haired oil tycoon in his mid-thirties with expensive tastes in pretty much everything.

"Walker, I found Delgado," Casey's voice came through. "He's at the bar chatting up a redhead."

"Thanks, Casey. We're on our way."

Meanwhile, Casey watched Delgado chatting up a pretty redhead at the bar, more than occasionally asking for a refill and speaking to Casey as if her were lower class, much to his chagrin. Delgado's phone rang and shifting his attention away from the redhead, he answered it as Casey caught sight of two men in suits headed that way as Delgado left the bar.

"Delgado's on the move. Whatever he came here to do is happening now. Follow him, he's got two suits with him."

"Got it, Casey."

Chuck and Sarah headed towards the elevator only to find it closing and them without a clue on what floor Delgado was heading floor. The hotel was at least twenty five stories high.

"Casey, we've lost Delgado," Chuck said into his watch.

"Relax, I bugged him. Thirteenth floor."

"Thanks." He turned to Sarah. "Delgado's on the thirteenth floor."

Upon arriving on the thirteenth floor they saw Delgado and the two suits going towards room 1356, just as Delgado was about to put his key in the two men pulled him aside, down one of the hallways. Using the chance, Chuck and Sarah rushed over, Sarah removed a bobby pin from her hair and tried to pick the lock.

"What do you think he's meeting with the suits for?" Chuck asked.

"I don't know. But our mission was to bring him in and that's what we're going to do."

Suddenly, they heard footsteps and they instantly knew that Delgado and the men were coming back. Sarah stood up and moved away from the door.

"Kiss me," she said.

"What?" Chuck replied, clearly surprised.

"We're supposed to be a couple, kiss me!" she whispered loudly.

"I'm really not good with PDA..."

"Do it!"

Chuck decided to listen and did so. Sarah continued it and moved against the wall. Even though he's gone through seduction training, Chuck was still not very comfortable with PDA, but kissing Sarah, even for a cover was...wow. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced and far better than anything he'd ever imagined. Not that he imagined this very often, he was very respectful of women and...aw geez, he was rambling in his own mind.

"Ahem," they finally pulled apart at the clearing of Delgado's throat. "Excuse me, but this is my room," he said.

"Oh, uh sorry," Sarah played embarrassed as they backed away from the door. Delgado nodded as he slipped the key into the door and opened it.

Just as they did so, Sarah unleashed a flying kick, knocking out one of the men in suits, the second attempted to grab a gun, but Chuck was too fast and grabbed him from behind, they wrestled for the gun and Sarah fought with Delgado.

He aimed a punch which hit Sarah once in the torso but when he tried to kick, she blocked it and before he could count to ten, Delgado was pinned to the wall. He removed his gun.

"Didn't think of that, did you?" he smirked, glancing at Chuck who the other man in the suit had on the ground.

"What does FULCRUM want, Delgado?" Sarah said.

"You are really in no position to ask questions, Agent Walker," he sneered.

"What, you're going to kill me?"

"That's the plan."

"Then humor a dead woman," she said.

"I'm not stupid."

"I never said you were," she replied calmly, spotting Casey come up from the corner of her eye. "But you're not exactly smart either."

Delgado caught sight of the man in the suit being shot and fired his gun three times, all three missed. Casey aimed a few shots himself as Chuck and Sarah went to take down Delgado. he fired for a bit until his barrel was empty.

"Shit," he muttered as Chuck pinned him to the wall and Sarah cuffed him. "Damn Larkin," he muttered under his breath.

Chuck heard it and was immediately taken aback. Larkin? Bryce Larkin? Bryce Larkin, from Connecticut, his friend from Stanford, was a spy? More so, a rogue spy?

"Bryce Larkin?" Chuck asked.

"Like I'd tell you," Delgado scoffed.

"You'll talk anyway," Casey said gruffly pulling him aside.

* * *

**_Director Graham's Office  
CIA Headquarters  
Washington DC  
9:30PM_**

They arrived back in Graham's office in no time flat again. Delgado and the two men were in custody. General Beckman was back and was rather impressed with the work tonight. Something that she rarely was with the CIA.

"Did Delgado say anything about what FULCRUM wanted or anything to do with the Intersect?" Graham asked.

Sarah and Casey shook their heads. Chuck gulped and managed the courage to speak up.

"While we were cuffing him. He mentioned a name," Chuck said quietly, but loud enough for them to hear.

"Who was it?" Beckman pressed.

"I'm really not sure what it meant. It sounded a little like bitching so-"

"Carmichael, who was it?" Beckman said.

"Larkin. He only used a last name."

Beckman and Graham turned to each other. They said nothing but it seemed like they were thinking of the same thing, or having some kind of telepathic conversation.

Graham cleared his throat. "That will be all, Agents. You did a great job tonight. You are both dismissed,"

"Major," Beckman said. "If you'd stay behind, I'd like to discuss something with you."

* * *

"Who's Larkin?" Sarah asked.

"Huh?" Chuck turned to Sarah. "What do you mean, I just heard Delgado say his name."

Sarah shook her head. "That's not it Chuck. You know him, you hesitated."

"He was my roommate, back at Stanford, one of my best friends," Chuck said.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. After Stanford I didn't really hear from him because I was recruited, but...He was a spy? A rogue spy? I just, I don't really know what to think anymore." Chuck sighed.

Sarah didn't really like seeing him sad, she'd grown up not really knowing what to expect and this must have been a real shock to Chuck. To find out that his best friend might have been a rogue spy, a traitor. She attempted to cheer him up.

"Look, I know its a little late, but what do you say to that pizza?" she suggested.

Chuck managed a small smile. "I'd like that."

* * *

**AN: And thus ends chapter 3 of United By Red Tests. I know I skipped a month but I wanted to get to the stuff about Fulcrum and the Intersect, originally I planned for that to be later but I decided to put it in now. In case you're wondering the red test stuff will come out at around chapter 5. Anyways, thanks for reading and please review. **


	4. Back to Burbank

**AN: Alright, managed to get another update out. I finished season 5 on DVD with my older brother and I still didn't like the ending. As my brother said 'so the whole evolution of Sarah's character was pretty much for nothing' and I pretty much agree with that. Schweedak owes us a better ending. I also have some homework which I have been avoiding, so I should probably get started on that. Anyway, enough ranting, here is the latest chapter of United By Red Tests. Hope you enjoy and please review. **

* * *

**Chapter 4 Back to Burbank**

_The street was dark as she passed the woman, barely illuminated by the street lights of Paris. A beautiful city, yet etched in her memory forever as the place she became a killer, where she gave up her last shred of innocence to work for the CIA. _

_She passed the woman, she kept walking and then she fired her gun, the bullet went into the woman's chest. But instead of going, of running away like she was supposed to, she couldn't move. It was as if her legs were stuck to the ground, refusing to go anywhere, causing her to see the woman on the ground, the woman who she had murdered in cold blood. _

_Only, the woman wasn't dead, she stood up, the bullet hole was still in her chest, but she walked towards the blonde. She was alive. _

_"You're a killer," the woman said. _

_"I was just following orders," the blonde tries to argue. _

_"You didn't even know who I was, what my name was, what if I had been innocent, hmm? What if you shot an innocent woman in cold blood?" her voice was calm, leveled, which to be honest, only made the blonde feel worse. _

_"You're a traitor, Graham said you were." She gulped. "And you're dead." _

_The woman ignored this. "What if I had a husband, a family, children waiting for me to come home? You just took away somebody from a life you didn't even know that they had." _

_"You betrayed your country," she said adamantly. "Why would Graham lie?" _

_"Perhaps he was cleaning up somebody's mess. The CIA isn't always right. You were just a pawn, they used you." _

_"No!" she wanted to wake up. This was a dream, it had to be. _

_"Yes," the woman nodded. "If I was a traitor, if I did kill people, then we're not so far apart are we?" _

_"That's a lie," she said in barely a whisper, but the woman heard it. _

_"It's not really, is it?" the woman walked up to her. "You see, Sarah Walker, you've always been a loner, you've always just done what you're told ever since you were a child, conning people with your father. And now you've become an agent, a true-cold blooded killer. And that is why no one will ever love you, why you will always be alone, why you are a murderer." _

_Sarah swore that the woman was advancing and fired another bullet from her gun. It hit the woman in the chest again, she glanced down at the wound and smirked. _

_"See, like I said. A killer."_

* * *

**__****_Sarah's Apartment  
Washington DC  
_****_3:00AM_**

Sarah Walker woke up in cold sweat. She felt a chill run down her spine and clutched her head in her hands. Another nightmare, they were all similar. About that night, about her red test, she kept wondering about that woman after her nightmares. Who was she, really? What exactly was it she did?

Throwing the covers off and getting out of bed, she looked out the window. Earlier that night Chuck had come over with a vegetarian-no-olives pizza post mission. They ate, talked for a bit and he left around 10:30-11. For a little while her mind was occupied with the kiss they had shared that night, even if it was for cover it was really...wow. She didn't know how to describe it exactly. Cover or not, she had to admit, it was pretty damn great.

The sun still wasn't up yet as Sarah looked out the window, it was pointless trying to go back to sleep now, after a nightmare she was never able to go back to sleep, even when she was a child. She got a glass of water before sitting back down on her bed. Sarah debated calling Chuck but decided against it. It would just be an inconvenience to wake him p an three in the morning over a nightmare.

Sighing, she climbed back into bed for what she figured would be an unsuccessful couple hours of trying to sleep. Sarah tried to think about something else other than her nightmare, about food or TV or anything, and then her mind drifted back to that kiss. When they had to kiss for the mission and she felt Chuck's lips on hers. That was like no cover kiss or any kiss at all that she'd ever experienced. Closing her eyes, just to remember that, she began to drift off.

* * *

**_The Previous Day  
_****_10:00PM  
_****_General Beckman's office  
_****_Washington DC_**

"The NSA has received Intel that Agent Bryce Larkin is rogue," Beckman said to Casey.

Casey grunted, he'd read Larkin's file. The typical wannabe James Bond, pretty boy CIA agent. Most of them were like that, except Carmichael and maybe Walker, she was alright.

"And you're not giving this Intel to the CIA?" Casey asked.

"They know, Major. But the Intersect is a highly confidential project and if Larkin steals it, then its not just the CIA who's put back. It's us too."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I have a team currently trying to track down Larkin's whereabouts. Once he is found, you are to do what you do best, Major Casey."

Casey nodded his head and grunted.

* * *

**_Present Day  
_****_2:00PM  
_****_Director Graham's Office  
Washington DC_**

"You two have another mission," Graham said. "But this time it's out of Washington."

"Sure, where is it?" Chuck asked.

"California, Burbank to be exact," he answered.

Chuck was taken aback. Burbank? As in Burbank where he grew up, where he completed his red tests, where his sister and her boyfriend lived, where his best friend and all his other friends lived. That Burbank?

"What will this mission be about?" Sarah asked.

"Well as you know, we've been fighting Fulcrum and trying to get Intel on rogue agents. Unfortunately, before we could strike on Fulcrum, they fired the first hit. They kidnapped one of our analysts, Prentice and then we sent an agent to rescue Prentice."

"I take it, that did not end well."

"It did not. We sent another agent, Stone, but he was captured as well."

"And this would be a rescue mission?"

"It is. We have one of our agents, Jake Landon based in LA. You'll meet with him, he has the Intel of where Prentice and Stone are being kept. Your mission is to have them brought back safely. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good, you're flight leaves in an hour. Go home, pack and then get back here. Oh, and Agent Carmichael, I understand that you have some family in LA, correct?"

"Yes, Sir," Chuck said.

"When the mission is finished you can take q day off . You too, Agent Walker."

"Thank you, sir," they said.

* * *

**_12:00 Noon  
Underground CIA Base  
Burbank, California_**

Chuck and Sarah were cleared for security in the CIA underground base in LA. It was fairly high-tech and Chuck was quickly falling in love with the high-tech computer equipment. Babbling on to Sarah about all the types of systems. She couldn't help but find him so cute, babbling about all of it, he was kinda like a kid in a candy store.

"Agent Carmichael, Agent Walker," a man with salt and pepper hair and green eyes greeted.

"Agent Landon," Sarah and Chuck shook the agent's hand.

"We understand you have Intel on the location of Agent Stone and Prentice," Chuck said.

"Yes I do."

Landon led the two of them into a room and booted up one of the screens showing schematics of a building. It was showed with thermal optics, showing different colors to represent different sectors of the building.

"This is the Armanov building downtown. We understand that Prentice and Stone are being held in a room in the sixth floor," he pointed to the roof. "This is the best place to gain entrance."

"The roof?"

"It's not particularly heavily guarded and will have light security in that area. Which means it should be easy to take out any security that Fulcrum has lined up."

"How are Prentice and Stone, is there any Intel on them?" Chuck asked.

"I'm afraid they've decided to start torturing Prentice, but we are sure that they are going to try get Stone to talk," Landon said glumly.

"When does the mission take place?" Sarah asked.

"Tonight at eight. You and Agent Carmichael will be infiltrating the building, I will be monitoring surveillance from the van. Grab Prentice and Stone as quick and as unnoticed as possible, then meet me back in the van. Clear?"

"Clear."

"Good. You will also have access to any equipment you may need."

* * *

**_8:00PM  
Armanov Building  
Burbank, California_**

"This is pretty calm," Chuck remarked checking out some of the night-vision equipment.

"What were you expecting, guard dogs?" Sarah asked sightly amused.

"Kinda, you know guard dogs, barbed wire electric fence, heaps of armed guards monitoring every perimeter."

"This is an undercover base, Chuck. Guard dogs and electric fences might arouse suspicion."

"You two, ready?" Landon asked.

Chuck and Sarah exited the van, their entrance went without a hitch, not that there was too much security on the roof, or any security on the roof to be perfectly frank. Once they entered the east wing on the sixth floor they caught sight of four guards by the hallway.

Chuck reached for his tranq gun before he felt something cold pressing against the back of his head.

"Drop the gun," he said coldly.

Chuck raised his arms and dropped the gun. He caught sight of Sarah from the corner of his eye, the guard hadn't seen her yet, he saw her mouth 'left' to him.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" the guard said.

"Well..." Chuck didn't finish, he took a quick sidestep left as Sarah had kicked the guard in the groin, causing him to double over. This gave her enough time hit him with a tranq, causing him to hit the ground. This alerted the four guards but as one was about to fire, Chuck through one of his fellow agents in front so he wouldn't shoot as Sarah tranqed the other two guards. Taking them out as well, they took off down the hall.

"Carmichael, Walker, you okay?" Landon's voice came through the comm link.

"Yeah we're fine. What room are Stone and Prentice in?"

"They're being kept on the last door on the left."

They made their way down the hall, trying not to alert the guards, standing outside of Prentice and Stone's room.

"Hey, thanks for saving me back there," Chuck said.

"No problem, it's what partners do, you'd do the same for me," Sarah said. He actually had a few weeks ago. They seemed to constantly take turns saving each other. Something vital in a partnership.

As they approached, Chuck shot the guards with tranqs and they began to search for the key. Once they had found it on one of the guards they opened the door to find Stone chained on one side and Prentice on another. They both looked like they had taken some damage.

"You guys are gonna be fine," Chuck said. "We're CIA, let's get you outta here," he said unlocking Stone's chains,he was wide awake. Prentice on the other hand was unconscious.

"She's been like that for about half an hour," Stone said as they hurried over.

"Landon, anyone headed this way?" Sarah asked.

"It looks clear for now. Just get Prentice and Stone out of there ASAP."

Chuck and Stone carried Prentice while Sarah led the way out of the building. Their escape was about as smooth as their entry and the four of them got into the van. Prentice and Stone were rescued. The mission was another success.

* * *

**_The Next Day  
CIA Underground Base  
Burbank, California _**

"Another successful mission, Agents," Graham said over the screen. "Although I's expect nothing less."

"How are Miss Prentice and Agent Stone?" Sarah inquired.

"They are both recovering well enough, Stone should be back in the field in about two weeks and Prentice is doing alright. As promised, Agent Carmichael, you can visit your family and Agent Walker, you may take a break and relax in LA. Your flight leaves in two days at 1500 hours," And with that, Graham's face disappeared.

"So you're going to visit your sister?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "It's been kind of a while since I've seen her so I figured I'd pay her a visit."

"That's nice. Well have a good time, Chuck," Sarah can't help but feel a little bit sad that she had no one she can visit anywhere.

"Do you wanna come with?" he blurted out.

"What?"

"Well if you're not doing anything, you wanna come visit Ellie with me? She's a great cook and she loves having company over, so..."

"Sure."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Sarah smiled. He was such a nice guy. "It sounds like fun."

* * *

**_11:30AM  
_****_Echo Park  
_****_Burbank, California_**

"Are you nervous?" Chuck asked surprised.

Sarah immediately stopped fidgeting with her hands and dropped them down to her sides.

"No. What would you say that?"

"You're fidgeting, people usually only do that when they're nervous," a silly smiled came on his face. "Is the great Agent Walker nervous at the prospect of meeting my sister?" he teased.

"Oh shut up, Carmichael," Sarah punched him playfully in the arm.

"Crap, I just realized. Sarah, you can't call me Carmichael. My family doesn't know anything about me being a spy, they just think I'm a software designer in DC. That I'm normal. To them I'm a Bartowski."

"Then Bartowski it is then," Sarah said as they reached the door and he knocked. "Say, what do we tell them about us?"

"Man, I didn't think this through, um okay, we can say that we're uh friends and while I was in LA you decided to tag along and uh..." he didn't finish as a tall brunette woman answered the door and upon seeing them gave Chuck a big hug.

"Oh my God!" she squealed. "Chuck! I didn't know you were coming, Devon! Chuck's here!"

"Bro! You're home that's awesome!" a muscular blonde man came out.

"Who's this?" Ellie asked.

"Oh, Ellie, Awesome, this is Sarah Walker. Sarah is my uh, how is it best to describe Sarah and I," he rambled trying to think. "We are-"

"Dating," Sarah cut him off, she wasn't quite sure what posessed her to say that but it was something she could get used to. Chuck was clearly taken aback but managed to maintain a straight face as Ellie pulled Sarah into a big hug. When they finally pulled away the four of them went inside. Sarah's boyfriend, the idea appealed to him.

"Sarah this is my sister Ellie and her boyfriend, Awesome."

"Ah, so you are the Captain Awesome Chuck talks about," Sarah said to Devon.

"Devon's fine," he smiled.

"Chuck, why didn't you tell me you were in town? I could have made your favorite! So tell me, how did you and Sarah meet? Are you being a good boyfriend? Is my brother being a good boyfriend? How long have you two been going out?"

"Ellie, geez, talk about playing twenty questions," Chuck joked.

"Haha, Chuck. Now come on, talk to me."

"Well Sarah and I met at work," Chuck said. It wasn't really a lie, it was just a different kind of work than Ellie had imagined.

"Really? What do you do, Sarah?"

"I'm an accountant. It's nothing compared to what you and Devon do," Sarah attempted to steer the conversation away. "Chuck tells me you are both doctors."

"Mmhmm. So tell me, how long have you two been dating?"

"Yeah, bro, why didn't you say anything?"

* * *

**_10:30PM  
_****_Echo Park  
_****_Burbank, California_**

After a day of delicious food, hanging out and interrogation Chuck and Sarah retired to Chuck's old room. Ellie had insisted on knowing about how they met, why Chuck didn't say anything, etcetera. Nothing Chuck wasn't used to.

"Wow, you're sister would have made quite the CIA interrogator, Chuck," Sarah remarked.

Chuck laughed. "I know. So...dating?"

"I had to think fast," Sarah defended. "It worked anyway, didn't it?"

"Yeah." He glanced at the bed and then dropped his eyes.

"So I can sleep on the floor..."

"No, it's your bed, this is your home, you can take the bed, I can sleep on the floor."

"Nonsense, Sarah, the lady should have the bed and the gentleman will sleep on the fl-"

"You know what? We're both grown up, we can sleep in the same bed." Sarah said.

"Are you sure? I mean, I can sleep on the floor."

Sarah shook her head. "You sleep on the bed. We're adults, we can sleep in the same bed."

"Okay."

After they had finished getting changed, they had climbed into bed-admittedly- kind of awkwardly. She was wearing her usual tank top and boyshorts and he was in black track pants and a Stanford shirt which kind of showed off his chest. Sarah quickly averted her eyes as she climbed into bed.

She had to admit, it was kind of nice not taking the first chance to sleep in the same bed as her. She knew a lot of guys who would have taken the first chance to jump into bed with her. But Chuck really was a nice guy.

"Goodnight, Chuck," she whispered.

"Goodnight, Sarah."

* * *

**AN: And there you have chapter 4. No clue when my next update will be since I have an English project and a Social Studies essay I have been putting off doing. Ayway, I hope you enjoyed and please review. Reviews are the best.**


	5. Silver Lining of a Nightmare

**AN: Well it was a choice between this or a SOS essay on the shaping of NZ. I guess you can figure out which one won. This chapter has lots of Charah in it and is sort of a turning point, I guess you could say, in their relationship. Sorry if I write anyone wrong or anything along those lines because my holiday ends Monday and I have to go back to school. Anyway, hope you enjoy and please review.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Silver Lining of a Nightmare**

_The day was rather clear, calm, the weather was nice. She was at her childhood home, one of them at least. The one that she had spent most of her time in before she went off conning with her father. Her mother's house. Right now it was empty and she was sitting on the doorstep. She didn't quite know why. _**  
**

_She saw a little girl on her bike, the riding was shaky, the little girl was probably trying to learn how to ride a two-wheeler. The bike was purple. Suddenly the little girl fell off her bike, she had a helmet on, she landed on one of her arms. Quickly, sprinting towards the little girl, she held out her hand. _

_"Are you alright?" _

_The little girl looked up and to her surprise, it wasn't a little girl at all. It was in fact the woman she had murdered. She backed away from the bike, it was the woman, wearing the exact same clothes the night she had been killed. The blonde pulled a gun out and aimed it. _

_"What are you doing here? You're dead!" she said shakily. _

_"Perhaps, Sarah Walker. But your guilt will live on, inside of you, forever." _

_"Leave me alone! Stay out of my head!" _

_"Your guilt will never die," the woman advanced. "It will always be with you, following you. It will keep you up at night, you will never be able to rest, like I am never able to rest now." _

_"Stay out of my head! Out of my dreams!" she said. _

_"But you see, Sarah, it is not I who is putting these thoughts, these dreams, all these lucid ideas in you head. It is yourself." _

_"It's not. It can't be. I don't want to think about this, I don't want to go to sleep only to be tormented by the ghost of a traitor. This is not my fault," she defends. "I don't want this in my head." _

_"I am not the ghost of the woman you shot, Agent Walker," the woman says. "The woman you murdered in cold blood. I am your guilt, your fears, your anger, your insecurities, all rolled into one. I only take this form because it gets to you." _

_"Then go away. I don't want to deal with you." _

_"Let's look at your record, shall we?" the woman ignores her. "Grew up as a con-artist, a criminal, and your guilt began to slowly form, bit by bit. And then your father was arrested and you were scared. Scared that you might never get to see him again. But it didn't end there did?_

_"No! Shut up!"_

_The woman continued. "You were picked on and bullied by the other kids at school and you became insecure, not that you already weren't, having a strained relationship with you father and having no friends and having no mother in your life. And you were angry, angry that your father, the only thing you had in your life was taken away from you. You were just about to hit rock bottom. But the Graham shows up." _

_She tried not to listen, to block out the sound, to think of anything else, to wake up, but she couldn't. She was still there, the woman was still talking. It wouldn't stop, it wouldn't go away. She desperately wanted it to end, for her to wake up._

_"Good old, Graham, he comes out of the blue and he offers you a place, a place in the CIA. And you have nothing else, you know you'll never get another chance like this. So you agree, you join. And you go through training, thinking that you're helping all these people for the greater good. Protecting your country and Graham, is like the father that you never had and you think, just maybe you can trust him. And just when you do, he pulls an assignment on you. Me. He wants you to kill me and then everything goes off the grid again." _

_She tries again to stop listening, to wake up, desperately. She almost begging her own mind to make this all stop. But it doesn't. _

_"You're mad at Graham because you thought that you'd never have to do this, because he never told you that you had to. And your feeling guilty for taking somebody's life. Someone you don't even know. And your scared, your scared because you didn't know what might happen. That if you went through with it, you would never have that small shred of innocence. Then your insecurities begin to grow, that maybe you;re just like that girl in high school everybody picked on." _

_"So how do I make this stop?" she asks, wanting it to end so badly. _

_The woman walks closer to her. "You can't. I will haunt you, until the day you di-"_

_"Sarah." Another voice calls her. _

_"Sarah, wake up." the same voice says. "Sarah."_

* * *

_****__****__Bartowski/Woodcombe Residence  
Echo Park  
Burbank California  
_**_2:00AM_**

"Sarah!" Chuck said. "Sarah, wake up!

She jolts awake to find herself in his bed. Quickly, Sarah remembers that they are in LA, that they are pretending to be dating while staying with Chuck's sister Ellie and her boyfriend, Devon.

Sitting up, she holds her head in her hands and instantly, Chuck is there to comfort her.

"Hey, are you okay? You were trembling. What's wrong?"

"Nightmare," she manages to mutter out.

He strokes her arm gently. "It's okay, talk to me. Tell me what happened?"

She shouldn't be telling him this. Spies, agents should not allow themselves to be vulnerable with anybody. He was her partner, their performance in the field might be hindered. She really shouldn't tell him, but at the same time, she can't keep it all inside, if she keeps it all inside it will eat her up. It will kill her.

"My red test," she whispered. Chuck heard it. "I keep dreaming about it."

He doesn't know if he should carry on. Red test stuff was usually classified, but right now, the usual beautiful, strong, smart, capable Sarah Walker looks broken and scared. He needs to let her know it was going to be okay.

"What happened?" he asked.

"It was in Paris," she said. Sarah had to tell somebody, it was eating her up inside. Just for once, screw the rules, she was going to tell Chuck.

"They didn't give me a name, just a place and time. I knew the face from a photo," Sarah took a deep breath. "And I was walking, everything was going according to plan. And then she dropped something, like a piece of jewelry I wasn't sure. And the I thought I, can't do this," she paused. "I can't kill her, not with her on the ground like that. So I kept walking. And then, in a reflection, I saw her reach for a gun. Or what I thought was a gun. I turned around and I, I shot her. I wanted to go back and check, but there was no time."

She swallowed hard. "It was the worst day of my life."

Chuck had been silent the whole time she was telling the story and realized how hard it must have been to open up and tell him about that. He had gone to a couple of sessions with one of the CIA shrinks after his red tests to help lighten the load of guilt. It seemed that Sarah didn't go through any of that.

"You dreamed about that?"

"Sort of," she nodded. "It kind of differs when I have nightmares, but that woman, my mark, she's always in it. And I keep thinking, what if they made a mistake. They told me she was a traitor but what if she wasn't? What if I killed an innocent woman?" She couldn't help but let a sob escape. Chuck wrapped her in an embrace, attempting to comfort her. But how do you deal with something this big? He was no shrink, no therapist. He had no idea what to do.

"My red test was the worst day of my life, too," he related. "They told me he was a mole, named Perry. I gave him a chance to be arrested but he fired his gun and fled. I chased him down," Chuck said. "And he was on the ground, I saw him about to reach for his gun and I fired. I killed him," Chuck said. He hadn't talked to anybody about that other than the CIA therapist.

"The truth is, Sarah, sometimes we don't know all that much about our assignments and I wish the costs weren't so high that we had to kill people, but Sarah, we are protecting people," he looked at her, still with her face buried in his chest.

"You're a good person, Sarah. You protect your country, you save lives every day," he stroked her hair gently.

Sarah had heard what he said, how he had opened up about his red test. How he didn't like killing people. How he said that she was a good person, that she protected people. She looked up to face him and in that moment every thing just connected, her lips moved closer to his and before either of them knew it, they kissed.

It was a real kiss, not like their cover kiss as a couple on the mission to capture Delgado, but a real kiss. Sweet, passionate, caring, meaningful all rolled into continued, as she deepened the kiss, wanting it to go further, he gently pulled away.

"Chuck," she got out in barely a whisper, confused at why he pulled away.

"Sarah, I like you and I like kissing you, but you're really vulnerable right now and I just, I just don't want to do anything that either of us might regret," he said, caressing her cheek with his thumb and looking into her gorgeous blue eyes.

Her eyes locked with his chocolate browns. "Okay," she whispered, attempting to hide her disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Sarah," he said. Chuck wasn't sure why exactly, but he felt the need to apologize.

"No, it's fine. I understand," she said softly. Sarah knew that he was doing this because he wasn't like other guys. He wasn't looking for her to be vulnerable so that he could jump into bed with her. Chuck was doing this because if they were to be real, they shouldn't start off with something that they might regret later.

Vulnerability was not a side anyone saw very often in Sarah Walker, or at all. But she was going to be vulnerable for once, if only just for tonight and then go back to being Agent Walker in the morning.

"Chuck," she whispered.

"Hmmm?"

"Hold me."

"Yeah," he said barely audibly as she lied down in the bed, facing the wall and he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her. It felt kinda awkward at first but soon after, it felt so right. Like it was meant to be. Sarah closed her eyes, feeling safe wrapped in Chuck's arms.

* * *

_****__****__Bartowski/Woodcombe Residence  
Echo Park  
Burbank California  
_**_8:00AM_**

Sarah woke up, she was so used to sleeping alone that having somebody's arms wrapped around her felt very different. Not necessarily bad, but certainly something she wasn't used to. She remembered last night, waking up from her nightmare, coming clean to Chuck about her red test, him doing so in return and then the kiss. Their first real kiss, and then being the gentleman that he was, Chuck stopped things when he feared they might go to far.

She watched him stir. Chuck opened his eyes to see the most beautiful woman he'd ever met in his arms.

"Morning, Chuck," she said.

"Morning, Sarah."

"Thank you," she said out of the blue.

"For what?"

"For being there for me last night. I know how awkward it must have been to have someone randomly start sobbing in your bed," she tried to lighten the load and hide her slight embarrassment.

"It wasn't awkward," she shot him a look. "Okay maybe a little bit, but it's really no problem, Sarah. I'll always be here if you need to talk, about anything." Chuck said sincerely.

She looked in his eyes and could tell he was sincere, he really meant what he said. Their partnership in the field had made them rely on each other. Before Sarah's mind could process whether it was a good idea or not she leaned in and kissed him. He was taken by shock again but quickly kissed her back, not wanting it to end even if they did have to deal with it seconds later. When they pulled apart, she was the first one to speak.

"So what does this mean?" he said in a small voice.

Sarah was just as confused. "I'm not sure. What do you think?"

"I-I don't know. I like you, Sarah, probably more than I should given the type of business that we're involved in but I do," he replied.

"Me too," she paused. "I-I definitely feel something, I just, I just don't know what. But I want to give it a shot."

"I know how you feel," he replied.

"So what happens now?"

"I uh, I don't suppose that we can be boyfriend/girlfriend officially. You know? With people actually knowing," Chuck said hopefully.

"Well, actually I don't think its against protocol for two agents to be involved," Sarah said and Chuck's face lit up. "But...The thing is that they might worry that having a personal relationship might hinder our performance in the field. We've only been working together a little over a month and they might try to re-assign one of us."

"So...what are our options then?" he asked.

"Well if we have a relationship, we might need to keep it a secret from Graham for awhile, which would mean, being on guard like we're being monitored in public, so no PDA of any kind," Sarah said. "Or, we can pretend like this never happened and go back to DC like everything's fine," she knew that those were her two options. But in her heart she wanted neither, she wanted a real relationship with Chuck. She debated, just for a split second about going off the grid with him, but decided against it.

"How long would we need to keep our relationship a secret?" Chuck asked.

Sarah shrugged. "I don't know, six months, maybe, a year. I really don't know."

"I don't want that," he said. "If we have a relationship I want something real. Something we wouldn't have to hide."

"Then I guess we have to pretend like this never happened," she sighed sadly.

She knew how he felt. Even though their partnership hadn't been for very long, there was always a certain attraction, not necessarily physically, but that certain chemistry was always there, they could relate to each other, which made them successful in the field.

"I-I don't think I could do that either," Chuck said. His mind began to think of any way that they might be able to be together, and then he started thinking about the night before, their missions, their pretending to be a couple, their first cover kiss...Their first cover kiss! Maybe there was a way. That was it!

"What if our relationship was a cover?" he questioned.

Sarah raised a brow. "What do you mean, a cover?"

"I mean, what if we told Graham that our relationship was a cover. I mean we did so well on capturing Delgado while we were posing as a couple," he added helpfully.

Sarah began to see his logic. "And we could say that our cover relationship could be used as an asset. And that we need to keep it long term in case-"

"In case my sister comes to visit. And while our relationship looks like a cover-"

"We can actually be pursuing a real one, and if our missions continue to be successful-"

"Graham won't re-assign either of us because we're too good as a team." Chuck finished. By this time they both had huge grins spread across their faces.

"You think we could really pull that off?" she asked.

"I don't know. But I'd like to give it shot," he smiled.

"So would I."

And with they kissed. His lips pressing on hers. Neither of them had expected this, to find somebody they...really liked and wanted a relationship with, in the CIA. As he kissed her, Chuck never wanted this moment to end. Neither of them did.

* * *

**AN: Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed Chapter 5. So Chuck and Sarah are finally together. Yeah I know this was pretty much all dialogue and thoughts but yeah. Anyway, I'm back to school Monday so I don't know how often I'll update, but leave reviews and the faster I will try. Please review, reviews are the best. **


	6. First Date

**AN: Sorry for the delay guys. I have excuses though. My computer went to the shop for hardware problems, I have a pile of English and Art homework to for school, I just got new options and I had a little bit of writers block. Anyway, here is the latest chapter of United By Red Tests. It's mostly fluff and sets the basis for the mission for the next chapter or next few chapters, not sure really. Well, hope you enjoy and please review. **

* * *

**Chapter 6: First Date **

Neither of them wanted this moment to end. To pull away, to go back to reality. But, such is life, they had to. Gently pulling away her lips from his, despite the yearning to let it be, Sarah pulled away.

"We should probably get up."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Ellie might start wondering."

"You're right, but uh, this is not over," Sarah said with a smirk.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

They proceeded to get out of bed, neither could hide the smile so clearly on their faces. They made their way to the table, surprisingly, neither Ellie or Awesome were there, but there was a note on the table. Chuck read it.

_Sorry we're going to miss you and Sarah. There was an accident on the intersection last night and they needed as many doctors to the ER ASAP. Devon and I are going to have to work all of these crazy shifts today. Sorry to miss you guys, there's some leftovers in the fridge in case you're too lazy to make breakfast. Take care, love you. _

_-Ellie _

Chuck couldn't help but smile a little, his sister was amazing. He put down the note and turned to Sarah.

"Ellie and Awesome are at the hospital. I guess it's just you and me for the day," he said.

"Well that's not such a bad deal," she smirked. "So leftover's for breakfast or..." Sarah asked glancing at the note.

"No way, I am making you my famous Chuck Bartowski pancakes," he smiled disarmingly. It wasn't meant to be disarming or suave or charming, it was just a genuine smile, yet it could do so much to her.

"That sounds great. Can I help?"

"Of course."

When the pancakes were finished being made, the two spies sat down for breakfast. It was so strange, two people who lived such dangerous, admittedly thrilling and exciting lives, who worked for the CIA, were just having a regular breakfast together. Another thing that neither of them had expected when they first joined the CIA. But unexpected things were popping up here, there and everywhere recently.

"Do you wanna go out?" Chuck suddenly asked.

"What?"

"Like on a date, with me," he said with his big brown puppy dog eyes. "Like one with no aliases or spy gear and no missions. Not that we've ever been on one of those."

She couldn't help but smile. "Like a real date?"

"Yeah, come on, look tomorrow, we're going to be back in DC. And then soon, maybe undercover somewhere in some place like Jakarta, in a knife fight with some evil doer and in that exact moment we're going to wish that we had spent one night of fun together," he grinned. "Besides if we're going to have a relationship-slash-cover relationship we can't have not gone on any dates."

"Okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It does sound like a lot of fun."

And with that, he leaned over and kissed her. Chuck wasn't quite sure where he got the courage from, but kissing Sarah was something that he could definitely get used to. The best part was, now that they had a plan, they didn't have to worry about being split up by Graham.

* * *

**_10:30AM  
_****_Burbank Buy More  
Burbank, California _**

"So this is where Morgan works?" Sarah asked.

Chuck would sometimes tell her stories about growing up with his friend Morgan since they were six years old and his crazy antics, but how all in all he was a loyal friend. Sarah couldn't help but feel jealous that she didn't have anybody like that in her life. Well, other than Chuck. But you can't really tell stories about Chuck to Chuck, now can you?

"Yeah. I just wanna say hi while we're in town. Maybe hang for a bit, but there are a couple of shops around this area if you get bored," he said as they reached the Nerd Herd desk.

"Nerd Herd? Didn't you say you used to-"

Chuck nodded. "When I was at Stanford for extra money," Chuck caught sight of a bearded man sleeping in a desk chair with his feet up on the Nerd Herd counter. He smiled, yep, Morgan was still Morgan. He hit the bell on the desk.

DING!

Morgan immediately shot up, his feet coming off the counter and he nearly fell out of his chair.

"Sorry Big Mike! Just resting my eyes for a minute-" he said standing up and regaining his balance. "Oh hey, Chuck! Buddy, I didn't know you were in town!" he said.

"It was kind of a last minute thing," then he noticed Morgan staring wide-eyed at Sarah. "Morgan, this is-"

"Vicky Vale," he answered, his eyes still not moving away from the beautiful blonde.

Chuck laughed, Sarah was half amused-half lost. "Morgan, this is Sarah Walker, my-"

"Girlfriend," Sarah cut him off, holding her hand out to Morgan.

"Girlfriend? Girlfriend you say?" Morgan asked stunned.

"Yeah," he looked at Sarah. "I can't believe it either."

"Wow," Morgan shook her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Sarah, this is Morgan Grimes, my best friend and my sister's former stalker," Chuck grinned.

"Chuck, man," he groaned.

"I didn't tell her that, Ellie did," Chuck replied.

You really took her pillow as your date to junior prom?" Sarah asked, recalling some of the stories Ellie and Chuck had reminisced about.

"Well, Ellie wouldn't go with me...so..." Morgan trailed off.

"It's okay. I have to say it's kind of ah... cute," she replied.

"Well thank you. I thought it was a romantic gesture but Ellie apparently thought otherwise," he said.

"She also thought otherwise when you attempted to serenade her in the school cafeteria," Chuck added.

"Hey! That was a big romantic gesture," Morgan defended. "I gave her flowers."

"Which you stole from the school garden."

"Still romantic wasn't it? Committing a crime for a woman. Well, up until the part when Rory Goldman accidentally tripped and ended up spilling chocolate milk on my head it was perfect."

Sarah was rather amused. Chuck and Morgan seemed to have a great childhood, hers, not so much. Most of it was conning, rocky road and getting a cut from whichever poor sucker either she or her dad had conned.

"When was this?" Sarah asked.

"Ah, fourth grade. Ellie was in seventh."

What song?

"Power of Love," Chuck answered. "He ruined it for her."

* * *

**_7:00PM  
_****_Antonio's Restaurant  
Burbank, California_**

Chuck had spent the day taking Sarah around California, they had lunch by the beach, Chuck got them some sizzling shrimp, after their meeting with Morgan. Sarah had given them some time to catch up, during which they talked about work (well Chuck's cover job and the Buy More), video games and 'how Chuck managed to land Vicky Vale'- Morgan's words, not his.

Chuck, knowing Sarah liked Italian took her to Antonio's, one of his favorite restaurants in LA. Well, to him nothing beat sizzling shrimp or Ellie's pot roast, but Antonio's was up there on his list.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Sarah asked.

"Sure, shoot."

"What do you call a first date with someone you've already slept in the same bed as?"

Chuck laughed. "I have no idea," he paused. "Look, this is just to make the most of not being spies for two days right?

"Yeah," she nodded.

"So, what if we were just normal people, going on a real first date," he suggested.

"I think I can do that," Sarah smiled.

"Hi, I'm Chuck," he smiled.

"I didn't know people still named their kids Chuck."

"Clearly my parents were sadists."

She laughed. "Well it's nice to meet you, Chuck. I'm Sarah."

"Sarah," he repeated. "It suits you."

"Thank you."

"I take it your parents weren't sadists."

* * *

They spent the rest of the night eating, talking, laughing, as if they were just two regular people on a first date with no spying, no secrets, no weapons, or covers or lying that they had to maintain. It was great, it was something Chuck could very quickly get used to.

The night went perfectly, although far too fast for either of their liking, but they ended up at the door to Ellie and Devon's apartment.

"This was really nice, Chuck," she smiled. "Thank you."

"My pleasure, Sarah, really," he replied.

She looked down for a moment. "So I guess this is it, huh? Tomorrow we go back to DC and get more missions."

"Not necessarily," Chuck said hopefully. "We still have our relationship-slash-cover relationship," he grasped her hand. "We're still gonna be together."

"I know," Sarah smiled. "I really want that."

"So do I," Chuck smiled back. "You know this is the part where I'm kinda forced to kiss you."

"Forced? Would it be so bad?"

"I'm sure I could suffer through it."

"Me too."

He leaned in and kissed her, she kissed him back, passion and kindness and caring for one another clearly shown, because right now, they weren't Agent Walker and Agent Carmichael on a mission, they were just Chuck and Sarah on a real date.

* * *

**__****_7:00PM  
_****_Director Graham's Office  
CIA Headquarters  
Washington DC_**

"Good to have you back, Agents," Graham greeted. The flight had been three hours by super sonic jet and now they were back in DC. "Prentice and Stone are recovering well and Delgado's still in interrogation. He gave us some information, but not quite as much as we would have liked," Graham paused.

"There is one more thing," he slid out a picture and Chuck immediately recognized the photo of Bryce Larkin. "This is Agent Bryce Larkin. He's rogue and working for Fulcrum. The NSA have a kill order out on him."

"W-why a kill order?" Chuck asked. "Wouldn't it be better to capture and interrogate him?"

"Ideally, but Larkin has somehow gathered information on the Intersect project, too much for our liking. Now that he's rogue we need to make sure he can't alert any of his Fulcrum superiors."

"So what are we meant to do?" Sarah asked.

"We will be requiring a team to track down Larkin, anywhere we believe he might be headed. The NSA is sending Major Casey to eliminate him, but he needs a team just in case Larkin slips through his fingers," Graham said. "That's where you two come in."

"So when Bryc-Larkin," Chuck quickly corrected himself. "Is tracked down, that is when our mission actually starts."

"Yes. Look I'm not thrilled with my two best agents providing as support to the NSA, but life doesn't always work in our favor," He turned to Chuck. "Agent Carmichael, I understand your past history with Larkin might make this harder, but I trust you will not let that get in the way of your mission."

"Yes, sir," Chuck replied. Sarah shot him a look, telling him that they needed to tell Graham about their new cover.

"Director," Sarah spoke up, trying to be professional. "Agent Carmichael and I, believe that it is best if we establish a cover relationship."

Graham raised a brow. "And why is that?"

"Well while we were in LA, Agent Walker posed as my girlfriend to my sister and her boyfriend. If she decides to visit...well it would be strange if we weren't a couple. It will also give us an edge in missions, an excuse for backup," Chuck added.

Graham nodded. "I suppose you have a point. So long as it doesn't not interfere in either of your performances in the field," he said. "Dismissed."

* * *

"Wow, that went well," Chuck remarked, exiting Graham's office.

"I know," Sarah replied as they walked down the hall. They were definitely relieved with that but Sarah could tell something was bothering him. He had a worried/conflicted expression on his face and he kept trying to flatten his hair or something.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Huh?" he asked.

"Chuck, I am a trained spy, I can telly you're worried about something. Is it Lark-Bryce?" she asked,

"Yeah, kind of. I mean he was my roommate, my fraternity brother, one of my best friends. All this time I thought he was an accountant somewhere and now apparently he's a rogue spy with a kill order out on him. Stealing supercomputers and..." he shook his head. "I just don't know what to think of him now."

Sarah had no idea what to tell Chuck. She had never been through a conflict like this before, after all she had never really trusted anyone other than Chuck and her friend Carina. And neither of them had ever been accused as traitors and had a kill order out on them. They left the building and reached the parking lot where their cars were parked side by side.

Not really knowing what else to do, she kissed him. He was taken aback for perhaps a second but quickly reciprocated. Kissing Sarah Walker was the most amazing feeling in the world and he never wanted to stop. Apparently the need for oxygen overtook their need for each other and they pulled apart.

"What was that for?" he asked, smiling broadly. "Not that I minded," he added.

"You're my boyfriend," she replied smiling back at him.

"And you're my girlfriend."

* * *

**AN: Well I know that wasn't very long compared to my other chapters but I certainly hope you enjoyed this. Also, do you think Chuck should get the Intersect in this story or just stick to being a legit spy (no Intersect). Anyway, thanks for reading and please review, I read every review like three times at least. **


	7. Bryce Larkin, Rogue Spy

**AN: Thanks so much to all you guys who are reviewing, reading, favoriting or alerting, it makes me really happy to know that you guys are enjoying this fic. Based on majority of the reviews I got from last chapter, I realized two things, one, that Chuck already being a trained spy doesn't really need the Intersect and two, that most of you guys don't want the Intersect, so Chuck won't get the Intersect, for now at least. (MWAHAHAHAHA) Anyway, this kinda leaves me on ends of what to do with Bryce Larkin and whether to make him a hero or villan. Either way, I hope this suffices for now. Hope you enjoy and please review.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Bryce Larkin, Rouge Spy**

**_10:30PM  
Unknown Facility  
Washington DC_**

"Dammit!" Bryce Larkin swore. He just received Fulcrum Intel, there was a hit order out on him from the NSA. They were sending Casey. Seriously, Casey? The most cold blooded, cold school NSA assassin. If he was an evil villain on a TV show he would have to be pretty proud of himself, the NSA were pulling out all of their big guns for his head.

The Intersect, he just had to get it. Sooner than he had planned. Quickly, drawing up a file on his computer he found the blueprints for the Washington DNI building. There was an Intersect room there, all he needed was to get in, get the Intersect and then get out.

Simple right? Wrong, complicated on God knows how many counts. Bryce was a spy, but he wasn't James Bond, there was absolutely no guarantee that he'd make it out alive if he succeeded at all. But, this was what he had to do.

The James Bond of Connecticut as Chuck had often called him back at Stanford. Chuck, he hadn't seen his friend since he was recruited to join the CIA. He always assumed that Chuck made it big somewhere in computers. He hadn't talked to anyone from Stanford since graduation. Quickly Bryce flicked through his email contacts on his PDA, yep, Chuck Bartowski was still there.

* * *

**_The Next Day  
8:30PM  
Sarah's Apartment  
Washington DC_**

"Okay I'm sorry but I still don't believe he could have survived that," Sarah said.

"Sarah, it's a movie."

"Yeah, I know. But seriously, if that actually happened, you're guaranteed to come out with at least more than-"

"Sarah, movie."

"Sorry, I guess I've spent pretty much my whole life trying to become a spy I never actually learnt much else so spying and life and death situations are one of the few things I'm familiar with," she said. "Stupid, huh?" she smiled sadly.

"It's not stupid," he said sincerely. "It's just something that you can work on, everyone has stuff they can work on. Besides," he smiled. "I bet Bond's not half the spy, you are, Agent Walker."

Sarah grinned back at him. "Well, Carmichael, strictly off the record, you are a far better kisser than James Bond."

"Is that so?"

"It is." Leaning in he kissed her, she cupped his face and continued the kiss in return. While they were still in what was usually called the 'honeymoon stage' of a relationship, or whatever the spy version of that was it still seemed different. Maybe because they had so often relied on each other in teh field, being together just felt natural.

When they finally pulled apart, Sarah smiled. "Oh yeah, much better than Bond."

It was the evening after their return to DC. Chuck, being the fantastic boyfriend/cover boyfriend and gentleman he was had gotten her a burger just the way she liked in medium rare with extra pickles and a couple of movies for them to watch. They had ended up watching From Russia With Love. It was funny how when he was a kid Chuck would dream and fantasize about being James Bond and now- to a certain extent- he was.

Suddenly Sarah's phone went off, she read it.

"Chuck, we have to go."

"What?"

"I just got a text from Casey. They tracked down Bryce Larkin to the DNI building. We have to move now."

Chuck sighed, a little disappointed but he quickly picked up his game. "Let's move."

* * *

**_8:45PM  
DNI Building  
Washington DC_**

"You gonna be okay with this?" Sarah whispered as they approached Casey.

"Yeah," he whispered back. "Thanks."

"About time you two got here," Casey grunted.

"Where's Larkin?" Sarah was in full agent mode as she watched Casey load his Desert Eagle and a crackling came from his comm. link. The voice was rather muffled, but from what Sarah could tell, things weren't going very well.

"Crap. We're down eight guys and Larkin's made it away with the Intersect," Casey said before sprinting off.

"Casey!" Chuck called out. "Where are you going?"

"West wing, Carmichael, no way I'm letting this bastard get away without a bullet between his eyes. I have orders to follow," Casey replied running off again, leaving Chuck and Sarah to follow behind him.

Bryce Larkin ran for his life, jumping from roof to roof trying to escape those guards at the DNI building, quickly scanning the area to see if anyone was around he turned to his PDA when he heard footsteps running.

"Shit," he muttered before continuing to run when he caught sight of a figure with a gun, he couldn't believe it. "Chuck?"

"Casey hold your fire," Chuck said. Casey snorted but apparently obeyed.

Bryce quickly came to realize he was surrounded by three people, one was Chuck, the other Casey and the third a blonde woman he'd only heard of while he was in training called Sarah Walker. All three were holding guns, this was definitely not going to end well on his end. And one thing he couldn't wrap his mind around, Chuck Bartowski was a spy.

Casey's gun never wavered from his position. "Don't move," he said commandingly.

Bryce was bleeding, his shirt was covered in blood and there was a nasty cut on his left temple, he put his hands up with no otehr choice. If Chuck Bartowski was a spy, then there was not much point sending him the Intersect.

"Put the device down Larkin," Sarah said catching sight on the PDA in his hand.

"Chuck?" Bryce questioned. "I don't understand."

"Put it down Larkin!" Casey snapped. "Or I'll go through with what I'm meant to and land a bullet between you eyes."

Bryce bent down and dropped the PDA on the ground his hands still in the air. Sarah was keeping watch of him while Casey talked to Chuck.

"Beckman's orders are to have him six feet under," Casey pointed out.

"I know, I just, I can get him to talk, okay?" Chuck insisted. Casey looked skeptical. "Trust me. I can."

"Just don't get your lady feelings into this," Casey said.

"Chuck, you're a spy?" Bryce asked.

Chuck walked forward, his gun still in hand. "Bryce, you're rogue?"

"Chuck-" he attempted to explain.

"Give me the Intersect or I will have Casey go through with his orders and have you six feet under," Chuck said sternly. "Where is it?"

"Chuck, you're my friend-"

"The Intersect, Bryce."

Squatting down again to pick up the PDA and then standing up again Bryce looked at Chuck. "Sorry, Chuck," he whispered. "No can do." Quickly landing a hit to the jaw on the man he once called his friend, Bryce ran off, Casey fired a couple of shots but he had darted around.

"Could get him to talk, huh, Carmichael?" Casey said irritably before going to chase after him.

"Chuck?" Sarah asked. "Are you-"

He shook his head. "I don't know. But right now we gotta find Bryce, the Intersect is in his PDA, I don't know how it's in there but it is." Chuck said before they rushed off after Bryce.

_No, no, no,_ Bryce thought._ This was not meant to happen. Chuck's a spy which means...I'm dead either way. Fuck. _Right now the entire building had probably been notified and he had to act fast if he didn't want Casey to kill him. But someone was bound to kill him now. Suddenly, he felt very dizzy, like the world was spinning, he collapsed to the ground. The whole world went dark.

* * *

**_10:30PM  
CIA Interrogation Cell  
Washington DC_**

Bryce woke up in a cell, dark, metallic and grey. Apparently the lights weren't on and it took some time for his eyes to adjust. Chuck Bartowski, his best friend from Stanford was a spy. How had this happened? He had never been recruited by Flemming had he? Sure, Chuck was really smart but he never thought that his friend would end up a CIA agent. This was just so screwed up.

Moving his hand to the side of his head, Bryce felt his head still bleeding, there was some scabbing but there was still blood coming out. Undoing his tie, he put it up to his head to stop the blood from flowing out.

"Damn," he muttered, propping himself up on the floor.

* * *

"Major Casey, your orders were very specific," Beckman confronted the NSA major.

The three of them, plus Beckman and Graham had gathered at CIA headquarters, Beckman was furious, Graham was pissed off and Chuck was nervous as hell. Having two American intelligence superiors and a trained assassin angry at you was a bad, bad idea.

"I understand that, General," Casey said. "But Agent Carmichael persuaded me to capture Larkin in order to get him to talk, bring us a step closer to taking down Fulcrum."

"Is this true, Agent Carmichael?" Graham raised an eyebrow.

"Yes sir," Chuck admitted. "Larkin stole the Intersect, but we recovered it. If we have him under capture then we can interrogate him on why Fulcrum wants the Intersect and how they are recruiting from the inside since he is rogue."

"Director, General," Sarah addressed. "We believe that Larkin was planning on sending the Intersect to somebody through his PDA, we just don't know who it is?"

"One of his Fulcrum superiors?" Beckman mused.

"Maybe, We're not sure."

"The PDA is still relatively in tact," Casey added. "We could have one of the analysts try see who Larkin was about to send it to."

Beckman still looked skeptical but nodded her head. "That sounds reasonable, Major Casey."

"General, Director, if I may," Chuck said. "I'd like to have first crack at interrogating Larkin," he asked.

"And why you, Carmichael?" Beckman asked.

"Larkin trusts me, well to a certain extent," Chuck replied. "Our previous history as friends at Stanford will be an edge for me to get the Intel," Chuck said.

"You're gonna get him to talk?" Casey snorted. "That didn't work out very well the last time you tried," he said, pointing to the red spot where Bryce had hit Chuck's jaw.

"That was a mistake," Chuck argued. "Now I know for sure that he's rogue. No more giving him a chance."

"Carmichael you have authority to interrogation Larkin," Graham said. "Casey, Walker you are to keep watch. Larkin get's hostile, take him down."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Casey and Sarah walked with Chuck into interrogation cell number 6. Through the window, Chuck saw Bryce sitting on the floor with his tie against his bleeding temple. Picking up a nearby rag he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for his old friend but overly conflicted at the same time. This had to be an interrogation, there was no room for traitors in the CIA.

"You sure you're gonna be okay with this?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, I'll-I'll cope," he said entering the code into the door, causing it to slide open.

Bryce looked up from the ground when he saw Chuck walk in and the door slide shut.

"Chuck?" he said.

"Bryce," he remarked coldly, rubbing the spot where Bryce had hit his jaw.

"Sorry I had to hit you."

"You don't seem very sorry."

Bryce narrowed his eyes. "How do I know your really Chuck?"

"I am Chuck."

"No, I don't believe you! My friend Chuck would never do this to me."

"I promise you Bryce, unless we are in some twilight zone, I am Chuck."

"Prove it."

"How?"

And then Bryce spoke in some guttural language that Casey and Sarah, who were listening from the outside didn't understand.

"Are you serious? We're being watched," Chuck protested.

"Do it."

"What a natural interrogator," Casey remarked sarcastically from the outside.

Chuck sighed, closing his eyes for a second, having no other option, he replied in the same language as Bryce. This caused just a small smile from Larkin.

"Your Klingon's a bit rusty, Chuck."

"I've been busy," Chuck replied, tossing him the rag. "Clean yourself up, Bryce. For the first time I've seen you, you look like crap."

Bryce replaced his tie, now soaked in blood for the rag, there was much less now but still. "So you work for the CIA, Chuck?"

"Really? What do you think this is? A catch up since Stanford?" Chuck remarked. "We know about Fulcrum, Bryce. We know that you're rogue, we know that you stole the Intersect and were planning to send it to someone. Who was it?"

"How did you find out? About me working for Fulcrum?"

Chuck paused for a moment. "...Delgado," he finally said.

"He spilled the beans?"

"Not intentionally, when we captured him he mentioned your name. But I'm getting off topic. Who did you send the Intersect to?"

"Chuck, you need to understand something, I'm not rogue, I've been trying to take down Fulcrum from the inside. This entire thing is a mission."

"The tell me who you were going to send the Intersect to," Chuck said.

Bryce shook his head. "I can't." Chuck rolled his eyes. "If I do Fulcrum will now that I've been spying on them!"

Chuck sighed and shook his head. "Bryce, you do realize that the only reason you aren't dead right now is because I convinced Graham and Beckman that I could get Intel on Fulcrum from you. If you don't tell me, Casey is going to lodge a bullet in your skull."

Chuck might have been a spy, but he was still human. Bryce at one point had been his best friend before he joined the CIA. While protecting the greater good was what he had to do, he didn't really want his once-best-friend dead. To be perfectly honest, he was still conflicted whether Bryce was rogue or not, but right now, everything seemed to be pointing towards rogue.

"I can't tell you, Chuck," Bryce said adamantly.

Chuck stood up and looked at Bryce. "You have no idea how thin the ice you're skating on is."

"I don't have a choice," he lied. Of course it was a lie.

"Everyone's got a choice," Chuck told Bryce, opening the door and stepping out. "I hope you make the right one," he said as the door slid shut, leaving Bryce Larkin alone in the cell.

* * *

**AN: Well? Yeah I know this was mainly mission, though I managed to squeeze some Charah in. So, Bryce Larkin, hero or villain? What would you prefer? Sorry for the delay, school gets in the way of my writing. I apologize if Chuck or anyone is out of character, I wanted to get something out before Monday. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review. Reviews are the best. **


	8. 72 Hours Part 1

**AN:** **Well I took every single one of your reviews which I have read at least ten times into consideration, I debated for ages in my head about what to do with Bryce Larkin until I finally decided. Sorry if this does not suit your opinion, you can't win them all I guess and I'm trying to make this story something that you guys will always enjoy.**

**I'm glad that you guys seem to be enjoying the story so far, because in reality I'm just a fourteen year old student trying to keep up with schoolwork and getting good grades.**

**Note: This chapter was going to be particularly long so I decided to split it in half. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this latest installment and please, please review.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: 72 Hours-Part 1**

**_10:50PM_**  
**_CIA Interrogation Cell_**  
**_Washington DC_**

Chuck closed the door and entered the code to lock it. Sarah and Casey had been monitoring from the outside.

"Chuck? What happened?" Sarah asked.

"He said that he's not rogue. That it was all a mission, that he's not really working for Fulcrum," Chuck said.

"Spectacular," Casey grunted sarcastically. "So who was he planning to send the Intersect to?"

"He won't tell me," Chuck sighed defeatedly.

"Then he's lying," Casey deadpanned.

"I-I don't know," Chuck looked down. This was turning out to be a dead end.

"Chuck, Graham would have said something if he was working with us," Sarah said.

"The odds all point to rogue, Carmichael," Casey said. "If he doesn't talk the order's still going to stand."

"I-I know that," Chuck said, running a hand through his hair. "I uh, I-I need some air, 'scuse me," he said before walking away.

Casey snorted, Sarah looked at her boyfriend heading up, his hand still running through his hair and wiping his forehead as if he was nervous. "I'll go talk to him," she told Casey, who just grunted.

* * *

Chuck had headed to the roof of the building where the cool air was fresher as opposed to the underground interrogation cells. He was standing on top looking out at the city of Washington DC, only wishing that he could enjoy the view, instead of having his mind occupied.

"Chuck," he heard Sarah's voice, turning around he managed a small smile at seeing her.

"Hi," was all he could say, she looked beautiful, the wind was blowing one her hair a little and the lighting from streetlamps and buildings were the only light sources around, she looked amazing.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"With everything happening with Bryce I mean."

"Oh," he said, looking down. At leats he'd been able to forget his problems momentarily. "That well, uh. I'm managing, trying," he chuckled a little. "Coping, I guess. Just trying to decide what's right and..."

"You can talk to me you know?" Sarah said.

"I know," Chuck smiled at her. "Thank you."

"So," she said looking around. "Did you just discover this now or do you have a habit of always going to roofs when you're conflicted?"

Chuck laughed. "No, I just needed some air and an underground row of interrogation cells aren't the best places to get it," Sarah laughed. "And neither are floors full of federal agents, so...roof was kinda my only option. Fresh air, quiet, well aside from the cars it helps me think."

"Oh, sorry to bother you then," she said, looking as if she was about to head down. "I'll just-"

"No," he shook his head. "Stay."

And she did, walking closer to him she looked out at the view over Washington DC. Buildings, people, cars, it was like a whole city just going on underneath their feet. Regular people going through a regular life yet all in the same vacinityl, in the same area they had just captured a rogue spy hours ago.

"This is a nice view," Sarah mused.

"Yeah it is," Chuck replied, but he wasn't looking out at the view. He was looking at Sarah. She turned to face him a blushed a little bit when she realised he was refering to her and not the view of the city.

"I was talking about the view to the city."

"I prefer the view of the beautiful girl next to me," he said sincerely.

"Chuck-"

"Really Sarah you are the most beautiful woman in the world." Their lips met allowing them to forget about Bryce, Fulcrum and everything going on in the interrogation cells if only for a moment. When they kissed there were no worries, they all melted away until finally they pulled apart.

"We should ah, go back in," she whispered.

"Yeah, um just uh, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you think Bryce is rogue?"

Sarah wasn't entirely taken aback by the question. She figured that he would consult her on what to do, but it still came as a small shock.

"Chuck," she paused. "You know him far more than I do. I really couldn't say."

"Exactly, you don't have any of this history or emotions with Bryce clouding your judgement. I don't know the truth, Sarah. I just can't believe that he would be rogue but I gave him so many chances during that interrogation to prove that he's not...I just don't know," he took her hands in his own. "I trust you Sarah, I need to know what you think."

She bit her lip. She couldn't tell him what she thought. Sarah had no connection to Bryce so all she knew was what the CIA had told her, rogue. But what if he based what he did or what he told Graham and beckman on her? What would happen if she said the wrong thing and the wrong thing happened? What if she said Bryce was rogue but he wasn't? What if she said he wasn't rogue and he was? Then whatever happened would be all her fault.

"I don't know, I'm sorry Chuck," she paused. "But whatever you think I'll support you."

"Thanks," it wasn't an answer, but it was good to know he had her support and they kissed again, more briefly this time however before heading back in.

* * *

"Took you long enough," Casey muttered as they got in. "So what's the verdict, Carmicahel?"

"I still don't know."

"Well while you two were God knows where, I got a call from Beckman and Graham."

"What did they say?"

"You have 72 hours to get the Intel out of Bryce Larkin or I'm going to end his miserable well-being," Casey said.

"Thank you, Casey," Chuck said.

"Any word from the analysts?" Sarah inquired.

He shook his head. "None yet. But the computer geeks should be able to figure it out, they're smart."

"Nerds," Chuck corrected.

"What?" Casey asked clearly confused.

"See we prefer nerd, it's just...never mind."

Casey had a confused look on his face and simply grunted and shook his head. "Well, whatever. You have three days to get Larkin to talk and if he doesn't," Casey made a firing gesture with his fingers.

"I get the picture, Casey. But what if he's not actually rogue?"

"Then make the pretty boy prove it. I'm going home," he said before heading off.

Chuck looked down at his feet for a moment before turning to Sarah. "I'm going to try again, can you keep watch?"

"Yeah, sure."

He nodded to say thank you before punching in the code and opening the door. Bryce was still in the spot, looking bored and worried at the same time, not two emotions that often conflict.

"Chuck? What's happening?" he asked.

"Okay, Bryce. You didn't want to co-operate earlier, fine. But the stakes have changed."

"What do you mean?" Bryce questioned.

"Casey got a call from our superiors. You have 72 hours to prove you're not rogue or Casey will have ten minutes after that time to lodge a bullet in your skull," Chuck said firmly. "So your choice Bryce."

Byce shook his head. "Casey can kill me if he wants, but I'm not saying anything."

It was like dealing with a child who refused to take any chances or criticism, Bryce was so damn stubborn, Chuck was almost certain at this point that he was rogue. He wanted to smack some sense into his old friend so that he would understand the importance of this but refrained from doing so.

"You know what?" Chuck nearly-shouted frustratedly. "Fine! I've given you so many chances to prove that you're not rogue, that you aren't who they say you are, but fine! You wanna be so freaking stubborn about it, fine! In three days time Casey is going to kill you and you'll wished you had made the right choice.

"Chuck, buddy," Bryce tried to say. "You can't seriosuly be doing this, man."

"Don't talk to me like we're friends. I am not friends with traitors," Chuck retorted coldly.

'Damn, this plan is not going like I hoped. Chuck's changed, he's different now, of course he is, he's a spy. But no way am I gonna tell him squat. I was so close to completing my mission, nothing is going to stop me now. Not even this super-spy version of Chuck Bartowski.' Bryce thought

"Chuck," he looked down, to try make himself seem sympathetic, small, helpless. "I can't-"

"Save it, Bryce," Chuck cut him off. "You wanna stay alive, you better come to your senses in three days." He left the room.

"Not talking?" Sarah asked although she already knew the answer.

"Not talking," he sighed exasperatedly. "I told him, three days if he wanted to change his mind, but...It doesn't seem like he'll be doing that."

The countdown began. Bryce Larkin had 72 hours to talk, to prove that he wasn't rogue, before Major John Casey turned him into nothing but a bleeding corpse.

* * *

**_67 Hours Left_**  
**_6:00AM_**  
**_Chuck's Apartment_**  
**_Washington DC_**

Sleep eluded Charles Carmichael aka Chuck Bartowski. It was times like this he missed his days of working at the Buy More during summers at college, the simpleness of being a common nerd who fixed phones and computers and video cameras. Who played and helped out his best friend with video games.

There was that one guy (he always remembered this in particular) who forgot to put tape in the video camera for his daughter's ballet recital because he thught digitals didn't need tape. So Chuck Morgan and a bunch of the nerds helped fix it up.

And when he and Morgan were stuck on a level of a game they would go online and look for walkthroughs or sometimes in Morgan's desperate times, cheat codes, but this couldn't be fixed with a new battery, or a tape or by tightening a loose screw on a cell phone. This couldn't be fixed with walkthroughs or cheat codes or anything like that. The only person who could fix this mess was Bryce Larkin, and he didn't seem to want to fix it. Chuck was helpless in this situation, he couldn't help if he wanted to, he didn't have the resources for it.

Chuck thought about calling Sarah. Just talking to her and hearing her voice could comfort him, but it was 6 AM. He knew that she didn't like mornings (she had told him after one mission where he came to see her at her hotel room and found a murdered alarm clock). Besides what was he supposed to say anyways?

'Hey Sarah, it's Chuck. I can't sleep because of this whole rogue spy thing with one of my best friends.' Actually that didn't sound too bad, but still he decided againts it. When he was stressed of conflicted back at Stanford (usually over an exam or test or something like that), he would play some Call of Duty. But that wasn't going to fix his problems now. What do you do to help with this kind of problem?

'Johnnie Walker Black, Carmichael,' came Casey's voice in his head. Actually, he did have a bottle of that stuff in the cabinet. Casey, in one of his kinder moments had given it to him after he had completed his red test. He tried it after, it was too strong. Chuck didn't touch the stuff after that night.

But now was a good a time as any to try again, throwing off the covers, Chuck went into the kitchen and removed the bottle from the top shelf of the cabinet and poured himself a glass.

Damn! That stuff was strong. But he kept going, and with each passing glass he felt some of his problems lift away and his throat burned less each time. Eventually he ended up drinking along with a round of Guitar Hero.

* * *

**_61 Hours Left_**  
**_10:00AM_**  
**_Chuck's Apartment_**  
**_Washington DC_**

Chuck hadn't been answering his phone. Sarah and the analysts had called him multiple time but he wasn't picking up. She wondered if he was still sleeping but he still wasn't answering at ten, she decided to go over and see if he was okay.

She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Sarah was certain that she heard some kind of nice inside, sounded like a song but she really wasn't sure. Sarah knocked again.

"Chuck?" Still no answer. Sarah considered shooting the lock off the door but that would only alert the other residents in the building. Using her lock-picking skills, she managed to get the door opened in under three minutes.

Upon opening the door, she caught sight of Chuck, he had his back leaned against the couch but he was sitting on the floor still dressed in his pyjamas. He had a plastic guitar in his hand and the TV screen was on.

"Chuck?" she asked.

"Sarah?" he turned around as she approached him and sat on the ground next to him. "What are you doing here?"

"You haven't been answering your phone," she replied. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," he said unconvincingly.

"Really?" she asked, picking up a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black sitting on the floor. It was a little less than half full. "Is that why you're drinking something that only Casey would drink?" she asked, a little amused.

"Nothing's wrong, it's just," his gazed was fixed on her. "God you're so pretty."

She smiled and held back a laugh, apparently the Johnnie Walker was working as a truth serum.

"Chuck."

He sighed but shot her a smile. "Am I that easy to read?"

"Only to me," she replied smiling. "Come on, Chuck. Talk to me."

"I just, I couldn't sleep thinking about everything with Bryce and the time limit," Chuck sighed. "The more I think about it I just know that he's really rogue. I think I've known it all along. I've been trying to make excuses because he was my friend. Stupid huh?"

"It's not stupid, Chuck," Sarah said. "He was your friend and you're a good guy. I get it."

He looked into her eyes and her comforting smile.

Chuck smiled and chuckled a little. "You are amazing, Sarah Walker. What did I do to deserve you?" They kissed. "So uh, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"The analysts called," she said. "Apparently they found out who Bryce was about to send the intersect to."

"That's great!" he said. "So who is it?"

"They said it was better if they said it in person."

"Okay," he blinked. "Wow, so okay, just gimme a minute to change."

* * *

**_60 Hours Left_**  
**_11:00AM_**  
**_Analytic Department_**  
**_CIA Headquarters_**  
**_Washington DC_**

Despite Chuck changing rather quickly, traffic was bad which delayed them getting to CIA Headquarters. They made it to the analytic department and met with Jordan Smith and Christine Jennings, the two analysts and old friends of Chuck heading the project. They had both been given clearance to work on anything surrounding the Intersect, which they were both incredibly ecstatic about.

"So who was Larkin planning to send the Intersect to?" Sarah asked as the four of them surrounded the desk.

There was a computer on the table, multiple devices that Sarah didn't really recognize and Larkin's PDA. Several plugs were attached between the computer and the PDA in order to keep it from self destructing. Jordan had was tapping away at the keyboard while Christine was walking them through what was happening.

"So we've got all his email contacts and now all we have to is find out his last history. Jordan?" she asked.

"Yep, just a couple of seconds," he said. Chuck looked over his shoulder and at the screen, he was coding something in green text that connected to Larkin's PDA. There was a link established that flashed up on the screen.

"What about the Intersect?" Chuck asked.

"The Intersect has been removed from the PDA, but Graham had it moved to another DNI building, given that well...Larkin," Jordan answered. "Now we just go through his email history and contacts...and bingo!" Jordan grinned. "He was planning on sending the email to one...Chuck Bartwoski."

Chuck and Sarah froze. Jordan and Christine didn't know Chuck's real last name so they didn't know that Bryce was sending the Intersect to him. Him! The Chuck Bartowski that Bryce knew was a civillain. Why in God;s name would you send classified government secrets to a civilian? This was crazy, insane, madness. Complete and utter madness. He felt Sarah grip his hand a little.

"Thanks guys," Chuck plastered on a smile. They did a great job, but this was just too much.

"We'll have to go alert Graham, but you guys were great," Sarah added.

"Alright then," Christine said. "Nice to meet you Sarah, good to see you again, Chuck."

"You guys too," he said before they headed off and out of the analyst department.

"Why would Bryce send me the Intersect if he thought I was a civilian?"Chuck asked aloud.

"I don't know," Sarah shook her head. "But we should find out."

* * *

**_59 Hours and 30 Minutes Left_**  
**_11:30AM_**  
**_Director Graham's Office_**  
**_CIA Headquarters_**  
**_Washington DC_**

"You're telling me that Bryce Larkin intended on sending you the Intersect, Agent Carmichael?" Graham asked."Yes, the analysts have discovered that he was intending to send me the intersect," Chuck replied.

Graham raised a brow. "I thought you and Larkin were friends before your recruitment."

"We were."

"Then it doesn't make any sense. If you were friends, why would he want you dead?"

"Dead?"

"Carmichael, Walker, see all of our Intersect test subjects have died," Graham paused. " The Intersect still has flaws to be perfected and their retention rate wasn't high enough," he spoke.

"So if Larkin sent me the Intersect, it was essentially a kill order?" Chuck asked.

Graham nodded sloemnly.

"But Agent Carmichael and Larkin were friends before this and they had no contact since Stanford and recruitment," Sarah said. "Why would Larkin try to kill Agent Carmichael?"

"I don't know Agent Walker."

"Wait," Chuck interrupted. "Why would he send it to me? Why not bring it to his Fulcrum superiors?"

"Ah, the million dollar question."

"Director, do you think that I could-"

"Interrogate Larkin again? Be my guest, Carmichael."

* * *

**_59 Hours and 15 Minutes Left  
_****_11:45AM  
_****_CIA Interrogation Cell  
_****_Washington DC_**

**__**For the third time in less than a day Chuck went into Bryce's cell. He looked the same. The bleeding had stopped, it would have been worrisome if it didn't but he was still dressed in the same blood-covered clothes. He looked as if he hadn't eaten, but right now Chuck didn't care about that. He wanted to know why a man he once claimed to be his best friend would pretty much send him a kill order.

"Don't they ever send someone else?" Bryce attempted to crack a joke. Chuck didn't laugh. "Chuck it was a joke," Bryce attempted to lighten the mood after seeing his old friend's serious expression on his face.

"No time for games, Bryce."

"If you're going to ask me-"

"I know who you were going to send the Intersect to!" Chuck cut him off. "It was me."

"how would you know?" Bryce defended.

"The analysts went through your PDA. You were planning to send the Intersect to Chuck Bartowski. I know, Bryce. Don't try to deny it."

"Maybe they made a mistake."

"Maybe, but the more believable answer is that you were going to send it to me. That's where all the research points to, all the evidence," Chuck retorted. "But the real question is why. Why would you send it to me, Bryce? As far as you knew I was a civilian."

"I thought it would be safe with you," he said.

"Really? Did Fulcrum know about the test subjects?" Chuck asked.

_'Shit, he knows. He's got me cornered.'_ Bryce didn't respond.

"They all died, Bryce. You were going to send me death in the form of an email. So tell me, why?"

* * *

**AN:** **Cliffhanger! Kind of. ****And thus ends chapter 8. Well I really hoped that you enjoyed that. I know I didn't have too much Charah in the last chapter so I tried to make it up a little more in this chapter. The part 2 of this chapter I will write whenever I can (school likes to get in the way). Please leave a review, I really love reading them.**


	9. 72 Hours Part 2

**AN: Sorry for the delay. But in between the large amounts of schoolwork and being to lazy to do the large amounts of schoolwork I haven't had too much time to write. This chapter, I think is one of my longest ever and I hope you enjoy. Pleas review, I read every review like...a lot and always take them into consideration.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: 72 Hours- Part 2**

_Previously on United By Red Tests_**  
**

_"Really? Did Fulcrum know about the test subjects?" Chuck asked._

_'Shit, he knows. He's got me cornered.' Bryce didn't respond._

_"They all died, Bryce. You were going to send me death in the form of an email. So tell me, why?"_

* * *

**_59 Hours and 15 Minutes Left  
_****_11:45AM  
_****_CIA Interrogation Cell  
_****_Washington DC_**

Chuck knew, Bryce was screwed he couldn't keep lying, but he wanted to live to finish his mission. He had to.

"Why?" Chuck was getting impatient now.

Looking down, Bryce was conflicted. Telling Chuck might compromise this operation, but not telling him would definitely compromise his life And by compromise he meant end it. He looked back up at Chuck and decided to tell the truth, some of it at least.

"Because I knew you could handle it."

"What? How could you possibly-"

"Back at Stanford there was this test. You scored ninety-eight percent on the encoded images test. You have an enormous retention rate," Bryce answered. There, he'd finally come clean. Half-clean, at least.

Chuck's eyes had been wide in surprise. He never knew that. But then if he didn't how did Bryce? His eyes narrowed.

"And how do you know all of this?"

"It's complicated-"

"Here we go," Chuck was so sick of all of Bryce's bullshit. This whole, will I tell you, won't I tell you thing was getting really old.

"Fleming. He recruited me and I kinda went into his computer to see who else he had recruited. I didn't see your name there but I got into the scores from the subliminal imaging test and you had the highest retention rate in class. Beat the second placer by miles," Bryce explained. "I knew you could handle it."

"And you didn't know about the Intersect at the time?"

Bryce shook his head. "The project was called Omaha at the time. It was really classified so newbies who just got recruited like me didn't now anything about it."

Chuck was totally lost. He had been recruited as an analyst, not an agent. Omaha? He had never heard of that before. Graham always referred to anything to do with the Intersect and the Intersect Project.

"But you thought I was a civilian...so why me?"

"I don't know. You could handle it, I figured...Chuck, you're smart, you'd figure it out."

"But the CIA would have traced it. They would have sent an agent after me, so would the NSA," Chuck squinted. "I would have been accused of being a rogue agent. Of working with you. You're still the bad guy."

"I'm not the bad guy."

"Oh really? Because ever since you've been here all you have done is further prove the evidence we already have that you're one of the bad guys!" Chuck yelled. "Why me? Why not one of your Fulcrum superiors?"

"Because I'm not one of the bad guys."

"Alright," Chuck sighed, clearly frustrated. "I'm done. I am done trying with you Bryce, I am done. Tell Casey hi for me," he remarked, turning to walk away.

Bryce sighed. "Cheese for Breakfast."

Chuck turned around, clearly confused. "What?"

"There was meant to be a drop going down with the Intersect. I was meant to go to Paris after I stole it and give it to Fulcrum. The code phrase was Cheese for Breakfast," he sighed. "If you go you can probably catch them."

"And how do I know any of this is true?" Chuck asked skeptically.

"You don't," Bryce shook his head. "But it's your best shot at taking down Fulcrum. If you don't you'll never get to the root of the problem."

Chuck debated in his mind. Bryce could be lying, it could all be an ambush and he would be captured, or worse, killed. But at the same time, if he wasn't, this could shut down a major part of Fulcrum.

"When is it happening?" Chuck asked.

"Tomorrow, 10:30PM Paris time." Chuck still looked skeptical and deep in thought. "Chuck," Bryce looked at his old friend. "You have to believe me."

Chuck said nothing more and left the cell.

"What did he say?" Sarah asked.

"Apparently my retention rate was really high," Chuck paused. "And Bryce thought I could take the Intersect."

"How would he know?"

"Ah," Chuck ran his hand down his face. "He hacked into the computers at Stanford, or so he said and saw my test scores for the subliminal imaging exam. And uh, when I asked him why if I was a civilian he said that I'd be able to figure it out. But, um, when i asked him why because I would be accused of being a rogue spy with him he didn't answer."

"I'm sorry Chuck," she said.

"It's not your fault. But the one thing I did get out of it, I'm not completely sure of."

"Which is?"

"Apparently there's meant to be some kind of drop in Paris tomorrow night. He was meant to physically give Fulcrum the PDA with the Intersect in it. Not send it through the email. He said that if I went the CIA could be steps closer to shutting down Fulcrum."

"But why physically give them the Intersect? It's so much riskier."

Chuck looked down at his feet. "That, I don't know."

"We should probably alert Graham," Sarah said.

"Yeah."

* * *

**_58 Hours Left  
_****_Midday  
_****_Director Graham's Office  
_****_Washington DC_**

Chuck told Graham everything that Bryce had told him. And now the CIA Director was contemplating on what to do. Clearly Larkin was not to be trusted, stealing the Intersect and all, but he probably valued his life to some extent. Trap or not a trap, that was the real question.

"I need you to go to Paris Carmichael. We need to check this Fulcrum out. We'll send you an adequate amount of backup," Graham said.

"How much?"

"Well, obviously we can't have a whole army waiting there with a tank or anything. But we will supply say, fifteen marksman on standby. Carmichael, you will give them a fake PDA as a decoy so we can arrest them. Clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Agent Walker, you are to accompany Agent Carmichael on this mission."

"Yes sir," she replied.

"Wait, Director," Chuck said. "Bryce meant to send me the Intersect but I think he was lying about why."

Graham nodded. "I think so too. I think Larkin was trying to recruit you to Fulcrum."

Chuck hadn't considered that and his eyes widened. "Fulcrum?

"Yes, see if Larkin claimed to know your retention scores and knew you could take the Intersect, then he could make you a part of Fulcrum. Take advantage of his previous friendship with you to get you to work with him."

Chuck kept a straight face and nodded. "I see."

"Good. Get packing, your plane leaves at 2000 hours. Dismissed."

Chuck and Sarah headed out the door. Graham picked up the phone on his desk and dialed. After several calls to Beckman for marksman, and discussion, he clicked on a different number.

"It's Graham. Put Larkin in a bunker until I can figure out what to do with him."

* * *

**_The Following Day  
_****_30 Hours Left_****_  
_****_10:30PM  
Unnamed Street  
_**Paris, France

Chuck, dressed in a suit and glasses with a built in camera walked down the streets. This plan was pretty far-fetched but he prayed that it would work. The guy collecting the Intersect had never met Bryce before, so he would pose as Bryce, hand him the fake PDA before arresting him. If it was an ambush, Sarah, Casey and fifteen different marksman were on standby, surrounding the area. Maybe this wasn't so far fetched after all.

"Chuck, there's someone approaching about twenty feet away," Sarah spoke into his earpiece.

Chuck looked up. "Got it." As the man approached further, Chuck caught sight of him. He had blonde- almost white- hair. He made sure that the glasses got a good view so that Sarah and Casey could identify him.

"Looking forward to the morning?" he remarked.

"Yeah, I'm thinking about Cheese for Breakfast," Chuck answered.

The man faced him.

"Got it," Sarah said through the earpiece. "His name is Edward Fiske, he's a Fulcrum agent. He was an arms dealer for the longest time."

"Bryce Larkin?" Fiske asked.

"That would be me," Chuck replied.

"The Intersect?" Fiske replied.

Chuck fished out the PDA from the pocket of his pants and handed it to him. Fiske booted it up and flicked through the files.

"Great," he smiled before turning around and pulling out a gun. "Now tell me where the _real _Intersect is!" Fiske said pointing his gun and Chuck.

"What are you talking about?" Chuck played dumb.

"Please, I know you're not Bryce Larkin. All of Fulcrum knows that Bryce Larkin was taken into CIA custody a few days ago. We're not that slow. Now tell me, where is the real Intersect?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Fiske laughed. "Don't screw with me, kid. I know what I know. Now tell me!"

"I would put down the gun, if I were you, Fiske." Chuck said with his hands in the air.

Another laugh. "Why? Because of your marksmen?" He held up his phone. "Your men might be surrounding me. But one push of a button and all of them are dead. Samuels, Morton, Carlson, all fifteen."

"Chuck, I'm unable to get in contact with any of the marksmen, it's like their communication is being scrambled," Chuck heard Sarah's voice through the earpiece.

Fiske smiled. "It's over. Now give me your gun."

Chuck obeyed, removing it from it's holster on the inside of his jacket.

"Now kick it over." He did so.

"I wouldn't shoot me if I were you," Chuck said. "You think I've just got fifteen marksmen on standby. That's a complete joke," he bluffed.

"Don't play games. Tell me where the Intersect is," Fiske walked closer with the tip of his gun pressed against Chuck's temple.

Chuck began to sweat from nervousness but quickly remained his calm appearance.

"Even if you kill me, the CIA knows who you are. They know everything about Fulcrum and we'll take you down either way."

"How would-" Fiske stepped closer to Chuck and removed the glasses before crushing them under his feet. "Camera glasses to identify me on a computer," he remarked. "We have those at Fulcrum too. We know everything that goes on, we have penetrated the deepest, darkest secrets of the CIA. Now, tell me where it is." Chuck said nothing. "TELL ME!"

Then Fiske, caught sight of the earpiece in his ear and removed this.

"Earpiece huh?"

"Chuck? Chuck? What's happening?" Sarah's voice came through.

"I have your agent," Fiske spoke. "And he's going to die if no one tells me where the Intersect is," with that he crushed the earpiece under his foot.

* * *

"Shit!" Sarah swore from the van. "I'm going after him."

"What are you crazy, Walker?" Casey asked. "We've lost audio, visual and I can't get in contact with any one the marksmen. That's suicide."

"I can't let him kill Chuck. Sorry Casey," she said hopping out of the van and running towards Chuck's destination.

"Ugh," he grunted, knowing that he was going to have to end up saving one or both of them.

* * *

"So this was all an ambush?" Chuck asked, already knowing the answer. "How did you know?"

"Oh so you expect me to tell you my entire plan?" Fiske laughed. "Not a chance," he glanced at his watch. "Tick tock, I'm waiting for my answer."

"Drop it!"

Chuck turned his head to see Sarah with a gun in her hand, aimed at Fiske.

He laughed. "This is your rescue team?"

"Sarah get down!" Chuck yelled as Fiske fired several times. She dove behind a car leaving Chuck free to hit Fiske's face and kick the gun away. They wrestled for a few seconds, Chuck had Fiske pinned to the ground.

"Sarah, the marksmen are in the custody of Fiske's men!" he called out tossing her the PDA on the ground. "There's a program on this that should be able to link to the marksmen," he wrestled Fiske who was getting a few shots in. Chuck hit his jaw but Fiske wouldn't stop.

"Chuck I'm not leaving you!"

"Do it!" he yelled as Fiske came back into action. "Sarah! Please! I can handle this! Go!"

Taking one last look she ran back, but not before firing a couple of shots at Fiske, which missed. She swore under her breath and ran back into the van. _'Please be okay Chuck. Please, don't die.' _she thought to herself.

Fiske was back on his feet and it was a battle to the death. What felt like hours was maybe only ten minutes. Sometimes Chuck was winning, other times it was Fiske. They fought, punch to punch, kick to kick until finally Fiske got hold of a gun.

"Say goodbye," he said evily. But before that, he collapsed in pain, dropping the gun and screaming.

Chuck looked over to see Casey from the roof of a nearby building. He came down quickly to see the unconscious Fiske on the ground with a bullet hole in the spine. "How did you do that?" Chuck asked in disbelief.

"I'm one of three men who can kill from the half mile mark," Casey said. "But we need him alive."

Thank you," he said. "Sarah! Where's Sarah?" Chuck asked frantically.

"Relax, she contacted me a few seconds ago. The marksmen have his men incapacitated," Casey pointed to Fiske on the ground. "So this was an ambush."

"And Bryce is really rogue," Chuck finished.

"Well think of it this way, we have one of Fulcrum's lead agents," Casey said. "Few interrogations and we shouldn't be far from taking down the whole thing."

"I guess. Yeah."

"Chuck!" he turned around to see her running up to him. He forgot Casey was there and wrapped her in his arms and kissed her. They were lost in it for a few moments until something set them back to reality.

"Ahem," came Casey's voice.

"Uh,"

"Well,"

He smirked a little. "So you two are an item, huh?"

"Well-"

"Don't worry I won't tell. Just don't get your lady feeling everywhere, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." They were both thankful that he wasn't going to tell. Graham knew about their cover relationship, but their real one was top secret.

"Thanks, Casey."

* * *

"Well, you have successfully taken down Edward Fiske, one of the senior agents of Fulcrum," Graham said from Casey's computer. "Well done to all of you." Beckman, who was also on the screen nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Director, General," Chuck said.

"What's the plan with Larkin?" Casey asked.

"We've been keeping him in an underground bunker for the meantime. He had seventy two hours to prove he wasn't rogue and all he's done is prove that he was. I think you all know what's going to happen."

They all nodded. In the past Chuck would have felt remorse but Larkin had tried to kill him, not directly but still.

"Director, if it's alright could we have a few more days in Paris?" Chuck asked.

"You've done a job well done. You have a week," Graham said. "You've earned it, Carmichael. Walker?"

"Oh yes, um. Yeah, I think a few days rest here would be good," she said.

"Major Casey?" Beckman asked.

Casey shook his head. "No mam, I'd like to return to the States as soon as possible."

"Very well then, your plane leaves tomorrow at eight. Well done, all of you." Beckman said before the screen went dark.

"Well you to best be going," Casey said. "I have a flight tomorrow."

"Yes," Chuck knew Casey didn't hug or show any sign of affection in general so he stuck his hand out. "Well thank you for saving me, Casey, it's been an honor working with you again."

Casey shook his hand and nodded. "You too," he turned to Sarah. "Walker."

"Casey." They shook on it before Chuck and Sarah retired to their rooms.

* * *

Chuck's room was on the same floor as Sarah's and he walked her to her door.

"You know we have a few days here, so you wanna go on a date tomorrow?" he asked out of the blue.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Look I know we haven't really had much time for us since this whole Bryce incident started," he paused. "But...if it's cool with you I'd like to take you out tomorrow night. On a date."

"Chuck," she said. God he was so sweet and amazing, she couldn't help but think how lucky she was.

"Listen, I get that Paris doesn't have the best set of memories for you. But," he smiled nervously. "I'd really like to take you out and I know that I can't exactly alter the memory of...you know, but we've got a week here and..."

"Chuck, stop."

"Please don't tell me I just blew it," he said nervously. "I'm sorry Sarah, I don't want to force you into anything you don't wan to-"

Sarah decided to stop his rambling with a kiss. She had been meaning to say yes from the start anyway.

"-Do," he finished when their lips parted.

"Chuck, yes. I've been meaning to say yes the whole time, but you kept rambling," she smiled.

"Sorry, I tend to do that when I'm nervous," he smiled.

"Don't be, it's kinda cute."

"Well thank you," his smile grew. "So, I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

* * *

**_The Next Day_****_  
_****_7:30PM  
Restaurant  
_**Paris, France

"This is really nice Chuck, thank you," Sarah said, sipping her wine.

"What's really nice is the company," Chuck smiled at his lovely girlfriend.

"So have you talked to Ellie or Morgan since we got back?" she asked.

"An email or two," he said. "But when the whole Bryce thing happened and I didn't have much time. I guess it's hard trying to balance spying with work, especially when your work is as a spy."

"I wouldn't know but I'll take your word for it," the words came out before she could stop herself. Quickly, Sarah averted her eyes to the window. They had an amazing view from the restaurant and it was nice.

Chuck had always noticed that Sarah never brought up her past, pre-spy life but never pushed her on the subject, since it seemed to be a rather sensitive topic. Although, did he have the chance he would have loved to know everything about her. Yet, he didn't push, instead he gave her a comforting smile and changed the topic, which she greatly appreciated. After a little while of talking their food arrived.

"How's your duck?" he asked.

"It's delicious, how's yours?"

"Very good," he said offering her some. She took it and offered him some in return. Sarah had never really understood all that coupley stuff in the movies like sharing food, but now she had found a great guy and it didn't seem so weird or dumb.

"Thank you for taking me here tonight," she smiled.

"Well I figured we're in Paris and I could get you something better than a pizza with no olives or a cheeseburger with extra pickles," he smiled. Sarah found it pretty cute that he knew all her food preferences.

"You are my girlfriend after all and you're well...you," he said.

"What about me?" she asked innocently.

Chuck laughed a little. "You're really going to make me say it." She just smiled innocently.

"Wow, okay. Fine. All right we'll play it your way... A girl like you, or more appropriately, a _woman_ like you," he looked down at his glass and then at her. "Considering the fact that you could probably kick the ass of everyone in this joint," Chuck took a breath and continued on nervously. "And a smart one too. Not to mention, cool... and extremely beautiful. And-and... you can stop me any time with the compliments if they're becoming... you know—" he began to ramble.

"No," Sarah said. She felt incredibly happy at the genuine words from him. "That was very sweet." '_Sweet? Really Walker, he says all that about you and sweet is the best you can come up with?' _her brain yells at her.

"Sweet? Golly gee, thanks for making me feel like I'm eight," he joked.

Sarah blushed a little and laughed at his joke. "You're not so bad yourself."

"Please," he replied sarcastically. "I'm fantastic."

"Yeah, you are," she said seriously.

* * *

After dinner they had gone out for a walk. The city was rather well lit from the street lamps and the shops and restaurants still open, Sarah walked passed the closed shops on Chuck's arm, he was unable to keep the smile off his face.

"You know, I never really understood why little girls always wanted to go to Paris," she said looking at him. "I guess they were after fancy dresses and stuff, I never really understood that. But now that I'm not here on assignment, I can completely see why," she said as he gazed into the blue oceans of her eyes.

"You deserve everything, Sarah," he stroked her cheek. A few seconds later he twirled her around, as if they were dancing. When she came back into his arms, Sarah smiled brightly.

"And you told me you couldn't dance."

"I can't dance."

"Then what was that?"

"That was my attempt at being spontaneous," he grinned.

"Nuh, uh, not buying it, Chuck. Let's dance."

"Here?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

"Because we're in the middle of a sidewalk."

"Good point," she smiled. "You'll just have to show me another time."

They kissed in the middle of the street, which eventually led to the return to one hotel room.

* * *

Chuck managed to get the door open with Sarah straddled around his waist, it seemed like an impossible tasks, but apparently it wasn't since they got in and kicked the door shut behind them. Laying her on the bed, she cupped his cheeks in her hands and dragged him on to the bed, leaving his left arm to support him up.

Sarah began unbuttoning the buttons on his shirt, after about the third one down, he gently held her hand to stop her from unbuttoning much further.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked in a whisper. "Cause if you're not ready-"

"Chuck," she said firmly.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

Flashing his full 1000 watt Bartowski grin, Chuck did so. And for the night, there was nothing else in the world other than the two of them and that hotel room.

* * *

**AN: Well that's Chapter 9. I hope you all enjoyed that, I thought it was a good mix between Charah and the mission, but then again what do I know, really? Next chapter will revolve around Charah's one week vacation in Paris and then some more mission I'm guessing. Sorry if the action was bad, though, but hey, I have a valid excuse, I'm not CIA and the closest to being even remotely a spy is playing some game which name I can't remember right now. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that and please leave a review, you know how much I love reading them. **


	10. Vacation

**AN: Hey guys, so sorry for the delay. I have excuses. First of all I got a bunch of milestone assessments dumped on me so I have assignments, tests, studying and all that shit to do. And then seniors had MOCK exams in my school house so I couldn't use my locker and had to lug around about twelve books on my back around, to and from school so I spent most of my time after school sleeping and doing homework. And I got sore arms from being physically unable to do chin-ups for a PE assessments although I could do everything else. And then to top it all off I caught a cold because the weather refuses to be stable and changes every other day. I don't even know if its summer or winter anymore. **

**Anyway, enough ranting. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I apologize for the delay. This chapter is chocked full of Charah and I hope you guys like it. Thanks to all those out their reading and reviewing you're the best. Hope you enjoy this and please review. **

* * *

**Chapter 10: Vacation**

******_7:30AM  
_****_Chansler Hotel  
_****_Paris France_**

Sarah Walker was used to sleeping alone. She'd done it for so many years that it was actually rare she slept with someone else. Usually if she slept with someone else, the awakening was awkward. But when Sarah woke up in Chuck's arms that morning it felt no short of amazing, much the same as last night. Her head was rested on his chest and his arms were wrapped around her.

Sarah had to admit, last night was pretty damn amazing, she'd only been with two guys before Chuck. One was Aaron, a guy she'd met during college in an Econ class, in between studying and running missions for the CIA at the same time it was hard to find time for a social life, let alone dating. She didn't remember it very well, or she didn't want to. Sometimes there was this line distinguished between things you don't remember and things you didn't want to. It was hard to tell the difference.

The other one was Brett, one of her fellow trainees in the early stages of CIA training. It had just kind of happened one night after the first round of torture training and it happened. It had happened once more after that but they quickly decided to end it. Or she did, Brett had pretty much been on the fence about it. On any seduction missions, what she did with marks would go to about as far as making out, no further.

But she had to admit, Chuck was the absolute best. Still tired and not in a mood to move from the comfortable position she was in right now, Sarah closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

* * *

A couple of hours later, she woke up again, for real this time. Unfortunately Chuck was not next to her but she heard the shower water running and assumed he was in there. Sarah sat up in bed and picked his dress shirt up off the floor and slipped it on before finally standing up. She found her way to the window, which had an amazing view of the Parisian skyline.

Chuck finished his shower, shut off the water, dried himself off and made his way back into the room. When he opened the door, he caught sight of Sarah, dressed only in his shirt standing by the window.

_'Damn, she makes the shirt look better than I ever could.' _he thought as he made his way up to her and gently put his hands on her shoulders.

"Hey," he smiled.

"Hi," she replied, turning around to face him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "You should have woken me."

"You looked so peaceful sleeping, I couldn't bring myself to," he grinned. "Besides, you look so hot in my shirt." She leaned it and they kissed as Sarah drew circles on his chest, only covered by his this Stanford t-shirt. When they finally pulled apart Sarah spoke up.

"Last night was incredible, Chuck," she said. "It really was."

He kissed the top of her head. "The feeling's mutual, trust me." Chuck smiled. She looked so beautiful, no make up, no hair styling on elaborate outfits, she looked simply gorgeous. It was like something out of a movie.

"What?' she asked when she caught him staring.

"Nothing you just look amazing," he said sincerely. Another kiss.

"So do you have any plans for the day?" Sarah asked.

"Oh nothing planned really," he said.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Right. Even though you once said that you've always wanted to go to Paris."

"Man it's going to be hard trying to surprise you."

"I don't like surprises."

"If I ever surprise you, it'll be the good kind, trust me."

"Okay, I trust you. So, plans for today?"

"Well I was thinking maybe we could go get some breakfast and then see the Louvre, maybe a couple of the other sites. Get some lunch. We've got a whole week, so no rush."

"Sounds like fun."

"But uh, my French doesn't really extend past Bonjour and Jemapple Chuck, so..."

"Détendez-vous," Sarah smiled. "Vous n'avez rien à vous soucier de." _(Relax, you have nothing to worry about)_

"Since when do you speak French?" he asked.

"Girl's gotta have her secrets," she smiled seductively.

"Well I did have one more idea for the day."

"Yeah?"

"I don't know how you'd feel about it. But it doesn't involve us leaving the hotel room for a while."

"Mmm, that sounds like a good plan. We're in France for the whole week anyway."

"I love the way your mind works," Chuck grinned, before gently picking her up and tossing her onto the bed. Sarah laughed but her lips were sealed was he joined her on the bed and engaged her in a passionate lip lock.

* * *

**__********_9:30AM  
_****_Le Café Paris  
_****_Paris France_**

Two hours later Chuck and Sarah had managed to make their way out of their hotel room to have breakfast on a sidewalk cafe. Pastries and coffee as they sat across each other. The sun was out and the sky showed no sign of rain, it was a beautiful day.

Chuck looked across the table at his beautiful girlfriend. He knew very little about her past pre-spying other than that she had been recruited by Graham in high school. There was so much more he wanted to know about the beautiful enigma, Sarah Walker.

"What?" she asked as she caught him staring.

"Nothing," he averted his eyes back to his food. "You look beautiful, that's all," he smiled.

She couldn't help but return the smile. "So what sites are you planning to see first?"

"Well I was thinking maybe the Louvre and the Arc De Triomphe today. I hear that the Eiffel Tower is great at night so maybe save that for the night," he replied.

"Sounds like a plan."

"Yeah."

"So uh have you been to Europe before? I mean before the uh spy life?" Chuck asked.

"No," Sarah shook her head. "Before I was recruited I was always in the States. Not always the same State but..." she trailed off for a bit. "Nah not Europe."

Chuck nodded understandingly. "So you moved around a lot?"

"As a kid yeah. My dad's job kept me going places," she answered quickly.

"I guess that made it hard to keep in touch with friends?" he asked.

"Yeah it did," Sarah replied quickly again. No need to walk him through the details of her crappy childhood and the horrible years known as her high school life.

"Least you had a Dad who stuck around," he said.

_'If only'_ Sarah thought, but said nothing, simply taking a sip of coffee and a bite out of her croissant. "What do you mean?" she asked after she swallowed.

"Well my mom left Ellie and me when I was nine. My dad stuck around but he was never really there. One day when I was thirteen he was gone."

"I'm sorry, Chuck," she held his hand over the table causing him to smile a little.

"Thanks. You know what? I shouldn't be talking about this, we're on vacation, we ought to be having fun," he raised his cup of coffee like a wine glass. "To having fun," he smiled.

"To having fun," Sarah clinked her cup with his.

* * *

**__********_11:00AM  
_****_Arc De Triomphe  
_****_Paris France_**

Chuck had been busy for the last twenty minutes or so taking pictures of the Arc De Triomphe and blabbering on about it. Sarah had to admit, she found it both incredibly cute and incredibly nerdy he'd memorized that much about the sites in Paris. Although she knew that when they got to the Eiffel Tower. this would seem like nothing.

"Under the vault is the Tomb of the unknown soldier. Apparently the monument was inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus," Chuck blabbered on. "Just the small vault is over 61 feet tall!" he exclaimed before pausing for a bit. "I must be boring you."

Sarah shook her head. "No, Chuck. I like this, I gotta admit you know so much about the sites in Paris."

He smiled. "Well I was an analyst, sitting in front of a computer before, you know? And the internet is a wonderful place."

"Excuse me," a voice said from behind.

Chuck and Sarah turned around to see an elderly couple who both had grey hair and looked in their seventies.

"Would you mind taking a photo of us," the woman said, holding out a camera. "It's our 45th anniversary."

"Of course," Chuck smiled. "And congratulations."

After snapping three shots of the couple in front of the Arc, they asked Chuck and Sarah if they would like a photo which they happily agreed to.

"So are you American?" the man asked, handing Chuck back his camera.

"Yeah, we're here on vacation," Sarah smiled.

"That's nice," the woman said. "I'm Linda, by the way, this is my husband Joe."

"I'm Chuck and this is Sarah, my girlfriend."

"So where are you from?" Joe asked.

"We both live in DC," Sarah replied. "What about you?"

"Newark," Linda said. "We used to live in Florida but we moved to be closer to our daughter, she's having a baby."

"That's great! Boy or girl?" Chuck asked.

"She and the dad want to keep it a surprise," Joe replied. "But we think its a girl."

"You must be excited to have a grandchild on the way," Sarah said.

"Oh definitely," Linda smiled. "This is our second one, all the more to spoil."

"So do you have any other kids or just the one daughter?"

"Three," Joe showed Chuck with his fingers as Linda flipped through the photos on their camera, before showing the younger couple a family photo, there were seven people in it and the background was of a nice looking restaurant.

"That's Nikki," Linda said pointing to one of the girls. "She's the one who's having a baby. And her husband James," she pointed to the man sitting next to her. "This is our son Patrick and his wife, Lizzie," Linda pointed to a man who looked like a much younger version of Joe who was holding a squirming toddler in his arms. "That's his son Andy. And this is Sophie, our youngest," she finally pointed at the last girl in the picture.

"Wow, big family," Sarah remarked.

"Yeah, I suppose," she paused. "You know, you two make a lovely couple."

"Thank you."

"Well, we best be going," Joe said glancing at his watch. "We're booked to go on a little cruise down the Seine. It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah you too."

The two couples said their goodbyes at Joe and Linda headed off. Joe and Linda seemed like they had it all figured out, married 45 years, three kids, a grandson and another grandchild on the way. Chuck couldn't help but wonder what his life would be in fifty years time. Obviously he wouldn't still be a spy, but would he and Sarah be married? Kids maybe?

"So where to next?" Sarah's voice penetrated his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh right, well the Louvre's is close by, maybe we could take a tour and then grab a bite.

"Sounds great."

* * *

**__********_9:30PM  
_****_Chansler Hotel  
_****_Paris France_**

After visiting the Louvre and having lunch, Chuck and Sarah checked out a couple of sites and stores before having dinner and deciding to head back to the hotel and try adjust to jet lag. They'd see the Eiffel tower another day.

The water was running from Sarah's shower as Chuck answered a call from Ellie.

"Hey, El," he smiled.

"Hi, baby brother I haven't heard from you in a while."

"Oh yeah, work stuff. Get's in the way sometimes." Well that wasn't really a lie. It just so happened that his line of work was espionage.

"How is work, anyway?" Ellie asked, being no more than curious about what was going on in her brother's life.

"Oh, fine. You know? Computers, software, dealing with viruses, the usual," Chuck hated lying to his sister, but it was the only way to keep her safe. All spies seemed to have this awful habit of making dangerous enemies and God-forbid they come after his family.

"What about you?" Chuck changed the topic. "How are you?"

"Good, good. Devon and I just got off an early shift. So..." Chuck could feel Ellie's nosy sister voice start coming through. "How are things with Sarah?"

"Great," Chuck couldn't help smiling. Things with Sarah were pretty great.

"So its serious?" Ellie asked, already knowing the answer to that question.

"Yes, El, it's serious."

"She seems like a great girl. Much better than Jill."

"Glad you think so."

"So anything new?"

"We're in Paris, actually." Chuck had to hold the phone away from his ear as his sister let out a high pitched squeal.

"Paris? Oh my God! The city of love, have you been to the Eiffel Tower, yet? How long have you been there?"

Chuck laughed a little. "Okay, well first of all we haven't been to the Eiffel Tower yet. We just arrived two days ago for work but we're done so we have a week on vacation. We went to the Arc De Triomphe and the Louvre today."

"That is so romantic," Ellie squealed.

"Yeah."

"Alright, I've got to get going. I'll talk to you some other time. Tell Sarah hi for me."

"I will. Okay, bye sis."

"Bye Chuck."

Chuck heard Ellie hang up on the other end as he hit the disconnect button on his phone.

"Talking to Ellie?" Sarah asked. Turning around he noticed that she had come out of her shower, dressed in her usual sleepwear, tank top and boyshorts and running a towel through her damp hair.

"Yeah, she says hi, by the way."

Sarah nodded. "Anything new with her?"

"Nah not really. She just called to say hi."

"Okay, well shower's yours if you want it, but i wouldn't recommend it."

"Why's that?"

"Because you might end up getting all dirty again," she grinned.

* * *

**__********_The Following Day  
8:00PM  
_****_Eiffel Tower  
_****_Paris France_**

"Wow this is amazing!" Chuck gasped as he caught the skyline of Paris from the tower. It was beautiful at night, the lights illuminated the sky and Chuck grinned. This place had been on his bucket list for so long and now he was really here, with the most beautiful girl he'd ever met.

They'd had an amazing dinner, followed by a trip to the top of the symbol of Paris. Ever since he was a little kid Chuck had wanted to visit the Eiffel Tower. Now he was there and it didn't fall short of his expectations. He'd been snapping pictures with his iPhone for the past ten minutes from almost every angle.

"You must be bored out of your mind," he said turning to Sarah.

"No, it's fine," she reassured him. "It's beautiful here."

"You're beautiful," he smiled at her.

"You must be thrilled, it's always been your dream to come here," she remarked.

"Yeah," Chuck flashed his Bartowski grin. "But what made it even better was that I got to spend it with the most amazing, beautiful woman ever," he brushed a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear.

Sarah's heart fluttered at his words and she smiled at him. "Well you've definitely turned around my opinion of Paris."

Their eyes locked and they kissed. When they were together, alone everything always seemed perfect, like it fit into place. Like it had always been meant to be. It was a feeling neither of them wanted to let go off.

The couple spent the rest of their trip on a train going between France and Switzerland stopping at different points for sightseeing. Although truth be told, most of their personal sightseeing had been of their compartment and each other.

* * *

**AN: Well I sincerely hope you enjoyed that and again I apologize for the delay. Next chapter will be going back to some more spy stuff but I always try to include Charah in every chapter. BTW if you were wondering what to whole point of the conversation with Joe and Linda was for it was merely to plant the idea in Chuck's head what his life might be like in fifty years. Also I have never been to Paris and all my information on it has been based either from stereotypes or Wikipedia.**

**Anyway please leave a review, reviews are the high point of my day and the more I get the faster I will try to update. **


	11. Returning to the Field

**AN: IMA BACK (Imagine me saying that in a very Super Mario Bros accent). Sorry for the wait but I had writers block and I'm actually publishing this at like 11PM NZ time. I'm currently nearing the end of my fist week of my two week break so I'll try write more. Come on, you didn't think I'd just leave you hanging did you? Come on guys, I'm not Fedak.**

**This chapter is really long like 4k+ words so I hope its worth it. Unfortunately there is less Charah in this chapter because we're going back towards missions, though I always try to put some in each chapter.**

**Well, I hope you enjoy this and please please review. Reviews make me happy.**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Returning to the Field**

**_7:30AM  
Chansler Hotel_  
_Paris, France_**

The room was calm, quiet, nothing was urgent of pressing right now, not a mission, not the ring of a phone, not the guilt from some mission, not even the occasional bump from the train tracks. Yep, something was definitely off. Sarah woke up in bed with Chuck, the train had gone back to Paris the previous day and now they were just waiting for the jet to be taken back to DC.

There was something about the calmness, the serenity of this moment that she wasn't used to, but didn't want to end, not now, not ever. Until...

_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_

Sarah shot up in bed as Chuck turned onto his other side to shut off the alarm. Realizing she was up he forced himself to sit up in bed.

"Hey, sorry about that," he said, quickly, stroking her arm. "Are you okay?"

She nodded quickly. "Yeah, yeah. Just uh, thinking about what's gonna happen when we get back to DC."

"What about it?" he asked sounding no more than curious.

"Well," she tried to find the words. Sarah wasn't quite as a eloquent a speaker as Chuck. "When we get back to DC, it's just gonna be missions and more missions and taking down fulcrum and arms dealers and-"

"No more time for us," he finished.

She faced him. "Yeah."

"Yeah, but we'll work it out. I promise, we will. I mean we can't always be on missions and you know, we can have dinner and watch movies and," he leaned in and kisser her on the lips. "This," he said as he started leaving a trail of kisses down her neck. "And this, and this..."

Sarah felt a smile growing on her face and turned to him. "You know, it's kinda hard to think when you're doing that."

Chuck lifted his head. "Do you want me to stop?"

"Don't even think about it

"But come on, we'll find time. I promise."

"Okay," she smiled. "You know? We do have some time before we have to leave for the airport. What do you think we should do?"

"Well I'm sure we'll find something."

* * *

**_9:00AM  
Chuck's Apartment_  
_Washington DC_**

"You don't have to go, you know?" Chuck said.

"Nah, we should rest and Graham wants to meet tonight," Sarah said, despite the fact that she wanted to stay with him.

Chuck gave her a quick peck on the lips. "See you tonight?"

"Of course."

As she left, Chuck lied down on his couch thinking about their trip. He'd always wanted to go to Paris and going through the experience with Sarah made it countless times better than he could have imagined. He'd never felt about anyone like he did about her. Back at Stanford there was Jill, they'd broken up towards the end of junior year.

While Jill was like him, a nerd, into video games and comics and so on and so forth, Ellie had been right. Because there were so many common interests between them, they would eventually run out of stuff to talk about. Besides their life as spies and their missions together, Chuck and Sarah didn't have that much in common, which left opportunity to learn about things from the other person.

But still, it was even more than that, getting to see her smile, knowing that she had his back in the field, when she laughed at one of his stupid jokes, it gave him a warm, happy feeling inside. The kind that no amount of video games or Ellie's cooking could create.

If he hadn't been before, he was sure now. Chuck had fallen in love with Sarah. Yet he knew that it was too soon, especially in the kind of business they were in. Trying to shake off the thoughts, he stood up and headed into his room to catch up on some sleep.

* * *

**_7:00PM_**  
**_Director Graham's Office_**  
**_CIA Headquarters _**  
**_Washington DC_**

"This is Zander Bacchus," Graham laid out a picture of a blonde haired man with green eyes. "And we believe that he is in possession of a chip. A chip we desperately need to get back."

"What's on the chip?" Sarah asked.

"The chip contains information on every cover that we've established for CIA agents. Location, alias, occupation, everything about their cover identity."

"How did Bacchus get his hands on the chip?"

"We're not quite sure. But all we need to know right now is how to get it back," he said sternly. "If it got into the wrong hands, it would be a bloodbath for out agents."

Chuck and Sarah could understand that. If CIA cover identities were leaked everything would all go to hell.

"What do we have on Bacchus?" Chuck asked. "I mean, arms dealer? Billionaire? Ex secret service, what?"

"No foul play has been directly linked to Bacchus as far as we know but his twin brother Julian has had some near misses."

"Define near misses."

"Fraud, bribery, ponzi schemes, insider trading, embezzlement," Graham replied. "Mostly white collar but the Bacchus's are very wealthy, they can hire the best lawyers, pay off jury members. That's why neither has a spot on their records."

"So what's the mission?"

"We've tracked Bacchus down to a hotel. Surveillance shows that every night at eight pm he goes to the bar and orders a drink. Agent Walker, your job is to seduce Bacchus into giving us the chip."

If Sarah had been eating anything, she would have choked. Sure, she knew that this was a part of her job, but she hoped she wouldn't have to do it again, at least not when she had a sweet caring boyfriend like Chuck. Clearing her throat, she began to protest.

"Sir, as crucial as this mission is, my cover with Agent Carmichael is boyfriend/girlfriend."

"True, but we have to make an exception for this mission."

"Director-"

"I'm sorry Sarah," he said. "Dismissed, both you."

* * *

She didn't want to have to do this. Sarah Walker might have been one of, if not the best student in her seduction class back at the farm, but it didn't mean she liked it. Especially not now. She knew how crucial this mission was, but did it really have to go this way? Sarah was no prude but one too many seduction missions was how many female agents gained certain reputations.

"Sorry about this," she managed to mutter out.

"It's not your fault," Chuck said. "Look, you are probably the best spy I've ever known, and I'll be on surveillance the whole time, this mission will be over before we know it." He looked at her reassuringly.

"Probably the best spy?" she teased.

Chuck managed a smile. He didn't really like the prospect of his girlfriend having to go seduce some other guy but this was part of her job and it was crucial to get the chip back. So he had to suck it up for a night and act like a spy and not a jealous boyfriend.

* * *

**_The Following Day_**  
**_8:00PM_**  
**_Royal Orchid Hotel  
Lobby _**  
**_Washington DC_**

Zander Bacchus looked almost exactly as he did in the picture. Tall, blonde, handsome, he was the kind of guy lots of girls fought over even though the relationship with probably last no more than two weeks. Sarah was seated at the bar, in position, while Chuck was in the lounge-area with (as cliche as it might have been) a newspaper covering his face.

According to Graham, Bacchus introduced himself by using his last name for some reason. It might have been because of the significance of the name which would probably get him free anything and an edge with women, or because anything he did he could blame on his twin brother since they looked exactly alike. But the point of the mission was not to identify Bacchus' actions, it was to get the chip back.

"Sarah, I have eyes on Bacchus, he's walking down the stairs," Chuck said through the comm link.

Because the bar was facing the same opposite side of the stairs Sarah couldn't catch a direct view but she watched Bacchus with her perifial vision. "I see him," she replied.

Bacchus made his way to the bar. "Bartender, your finest scotch, on the rocks."

"That's PortWood, 21 years old and it's twenty five hundred dollars a shot," he said.

Bacchus flashed a grin. "Money is no object."

The bartender nodded curtly and turned to Sarah. "Anything for you Miss?"

"Another glass of white wine," she said.

Bacchus's attention shifted to the blonde at the bar. He flashed another smile and put his elbow on the bar so he was leaning against it and facing her. "Bartender, the lady's drink is on me." He stuck his hand out. "Bacchus."

"Bacchus," Sarah shook his hand. "That's an interesting name," she said feigning interest.

"It means god of wine," he said as the drinks arrived.

"And yet you drink scotch."

Bacchus flashed another grin. "I think I'm going to like you..."

"Sarah."

"Well Sarah, how about after you finish that drink we go up to my room."

"Don't you work fast."

"When I know what I want I work fast and hard," he said, making a rather obvious double entendre.

_'Oh come on!'_ Chuck mouthed from where he was sitting._ 'Who uses a line like that?'_

"I have a better idea, why don't we skip the finishing the drink and go straight up to your room." Some guys might have gotten suspicious that Sarah jumped straight in, but Bacchus had a big ego and thought he was God's gift to women which was what she was counting on.

"Whatever you say," he smiled, downing his scotch in one go, tossing a couple of notes on the table and standing up straight.

"Chuck, I'm on the move," she muttered into her comm link.

"Yeah, I gotcha covered," he said. Chuck put the newspaper down and stood up, as he was about to follow Sarah and Bacchus, he caught sight of two rather big men entering the lobby. He would have let it go and kept following Sarah until he saw a gun on one of them and then followed by a man, who looked exactly like Bacchus shaking hands. His twin.

"Sarah, Bacchus's twin is in he lobby shaking hands with some gunmen, I'm going to follow. You gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine, Chuck," her voice came through. "Good work, see what they're up to."

* * *

**_Bacchus's Hotel Room _**

Sarah Walker was not a fan of guys like Zander Bacchus. Guys who thought that they owned the word and assumed that they could get any woman they wanted into bed because they were rich and handsome. And guys like him were always far too handsy. Chuck was downstairs in the lobby trying to find out what was going on between Bacchus's twin and the gunmen that he saw, which meant it would take a while for him to get up. However, that did give her an option.

Once she was through the door of his hotel room, she went from flirty girl at a hotel bar to Agent Walker. Besides, she had already had to partially make out with the guy in the elevator, there was no need for anything to escalate further. She closed the door and made sure it was locked. Sarah had already calculated, although Bacchus was bigger than her, from where he was standing, if he attacked from either side, she could block his move and shoot him.

"Okay, Bacchus, where is it?"

"What?" he was surprised. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't have time for your games," she said intimidatingly. "The chip you stole, where is it?"

"Look Sarah, I didn't steal any chip. How about another drink?" he said trying to pull off his charm on the blonde again. It wouldn't work. Hell, it hadn't even actually worked down at the bar. "Now come on, relax, have a drink, and then we can-"

She pulled her gun out of her purse. "I'm not kidding. We have Intel on Zander Bacchus, one word and you'll be-"

"Whoa, wait," he said, Bacchus had his hands up, not much further above his shoulders, it wasn't like a proper surrendering position, but adjacent to that. "You think I Zander? You got it wrong, Zander's my brother, I'm Julian."

"What?" she asked, clearly surprised and very skeptical. "You're lying to me."

"Look I'm not I swear! And put the gun down, what are you anyway, FBI?"

"Maybe. And you're in no position to be asking questions!"

"Listen to me, okay. Zander's been using my name to access accounts. I don't know how, I don't know why and I sure as hell don't know why a gun is being pointed at me right now, but I'm innocent."

"So have you been going down to the bar every night for the past week?" she pressed.

"Yeah, why?"

"Again, you're in no position to be asking questions. Why only use a last name?"

"Just the name gives me a lot of openings, if you know what I mean." Sarah rolled her eyes. Even at gunpoint he was making crude double entendres. "I mean after that, the rest is trivial."

"And just how do I know that what you're telling me is the truth?" she questioned.

"Would I lie to you?" he faked sincerity.

"Yes," she deadpanned.

"Look, I don't know what Zander does or why he uses my name, but I know that I didn't steal any chip."

"So all the near misses? Insider trading? Embezzlement?"

"All Zander, he used my name."

"And you were okay with that?"

"No damage to my record," he shrugged. Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she could have swore he was reaching for something and hit the trigger. Julian Bacchus fell straight down with a thump. It was only a tranq, he would probably wake up in a couple of hours with no recollection.

"Chuck, I have the wrong brother. It's not Zander, I think whoever you're following is."

"What? You're kidding."

"I wish."

"Wait, uh, there was something in Zander's file, something about a tattoo of a playing card on his back. Check, if it's there, it's Zander, if it's not it's Julian."

"Which playing card?"

"King of Diamonds I think."

Squatting down, Sarah checked. No tattoo, he'd been telling the truth. "No, you've got Zander. I'll search the room and then I'll catch up with you. Where are you anyway?"

"Outside of one of the laundry rooms, I heard Bacchus and these two guys go in but i can't hear them."

"Okay, once I'm done here, I'll go down."

She searched the room, drawers, closets, under the bed, she had no proper equipment like infared detectors or anything to properly search the place so her training would have to do. There wasn't much until she found a phone at the back of the cupboard under the bathroom sink. It was a burn phone, and with Chuck's lead she was certain whatever was going to go down with the chip, was going down tonight.

* * *

**_Laundry Room_**

Chuck could barely here what they were saying over the sound of the dryer. As if the door closed didn't make it hard enough to listen, but the sound of one of the dryers was driving him insane. He would have snuck inside, but there was nowhere for him to hide. He'd be out in the open. Taking a chance, he allowed the door to open slightly to listen more clearly and get a better view.

"I want full immunity in exchange for the chip," Bacchus's voice came through.

"You drive a hard bargain Mr Bacchus," one of the men said. He was bald and spoke in English, but it was peppered with an accent that was unmistakably Italian. "How do we know that you're not playing us for fools?"

Bacchus chuckled a little. "I am an honest man, granted the ways in which I obtained this chip were not so honest. But I swear to you, I will keep my word and my mouth shut."

The first man, laid a briefcase out on a table, which presumably was used to fold laundry. Bacchus scanned his eyes over the contents and nodded.

"Seems right. Now, this is plus the full immunity I get. Once I hand over the chip, I'm out. I get the cash and this meeting never happened."

The first man, who had been holding the briefcase gestured to the silent one. He nodded curtly and excused himself to a separate corner of the laundry room and retrieved a cell phone, which he proceeded to call from.

"What's he doing?" Bacchus asked.

"Nothing of your concern," the first man cut him off. "We had a deal. You have your money, now the chip."

Bacchus eyed the man carefully and reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, the kind you'd keep a ring in and handed it to the man, who removed the chip from inside and examined it carefully.

"It looks good," he said, pocketing it.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr Bacchus," he said. Bacchus picked up the briefcase and turned to leave, turning to the man in the corner, he spoke in Italian. "Posizione è positivo?" _(Is the location positive?)_

"Negato." _(Negative)_

"Sparargli," _(Shoot him) _he turned to Bacchus who was just about to leave. "Mr Bacchus."

"Yeah?" he turned, just in time to see the man in the corner whip out a gun and shoot him in the chest in less than five seconds. Collapsing to the ground and dropping the briefcase in the process. His hand jumped to his heart and he was bleeding like crazy from the shots.

"We...had...a deal," he choked out. "I...i...immunity

"Yes, well things change," the bald man smiled with his teeth, showing a gold tooth.

"You...rotten...cheat...Franchetti," Zander Bacchus said his last words before his body shut down.

Franchetti merely scoffed. "Carmine, lasciamo."

Nobody but Franchetti and Carmine knew that the blood of Zander Bacchus had been spilled that night, all because of the sound of the dryer. Well, Franchetti, Carmine and Chuck.

At the discovery of Zander's death, Chuck got the hell out of there and spoke into his comm. link. "Sarah, Sarah where are you?"

"The lobby. Where are you?"

"I don't have time to explain but the two guys I saw Bacchus with, he gave them the chip and now he's dead," Chuck summarized quickly. "I'm gonna follow them."

"Chuck, you can't go without backup. Where are you?"

"Outside the laundry room on the fifth floor. Sarah, they're leaving, I have to go."

"Chuck, if these guys killed Bacchus then they are dangerous. It's not safe to go without backup."

"Yeah, but if I don't, we won't get that chip back."

"Chuck-"

"Sarah, I'll tell you when they've stopped moving. I gotta go." He moved silently as he followed Carmine and Franchetti, Chuck tried to recall anything he would have read as an analyst that might help him, but drew a blank. It was now he wished that he would have waited for Sarah.

* * *

"Dammit Chuck! You don't go off chasing killers by yourself," Sarah muttered under her breath. Running in heels was not something she was fond of, the burn phone she'd found under the sink was in her purse as she tried to get in contact with Chuck.

"Chuck, Chuck. Damn, where are you?" He said that he was by the laundry room on the fifth floor, but chances were that he had already left, following the guys who killed Bacchus. There was no helipad at the roof of the hotel, which meant they would have to escape either through the lobby or one of the basements. From her memory of the elevator, there were two basements used as parking lots. Chances were that whoever took the chip was going to exit through one of those.

* * *

_**Basement 2**_

"Hai quello che vuoi?" _(You have what you want?)_ Carmine asked anxiously as they made their way through the parking lot at a surprisingly leisurely pace.

"Si," _(Yes)_ Franchetti remarked as if in passing.

"Quindi cerchiamo la mia famiglia andare" _(So then let my family go) _

Franchetti sucked in a breath as if the next thing he was going to say would be hard. "Cambio di piani di Carmine, avrò bisogno di te per un po 'più a lungo." _(Change of plans Carmine, I'll need you for a bit longer.)_

"Cosa?" _(What)_ he questioned almost furiously, stepping in front of Franchetti intimidatingly. "Avevamo un accordo," _(We had a deal)_ he said through gritted teeth. "Mi hai detto se ti ho aiutato con questo, si lascia andare" _(You told me if I helped you with this, you'd let them go.)_

Franchetti shrugged as if it was nothing. "La posizione non era sicuro. Le cose cambiano caro Carmine."_ (The location was not secure. Things change, dear Carmine.) _

"NO! Hai giurato a me che se hai quello che volevi che avevo da fare e ci si lascia andare."_ (You swore to me that if you got what you wanted I'd be done and you'd let them go)_

"E ti ho detto le cose cambiano."_ (And I told you things change.)_

Carmine drew his gun at Franchetti. "Allora io sono fuori. Il morto aveva ragione, sei un imbroglione marcio."_ (Then I'm out. The dead man was right, you are a rotten cheat)_

"Spararmi," _(Shoot me)_ he taunted. "Ma se i miei uomini non si ottiene una telefonata da me. La tua famiglia è morta," he grinned evily_. (But if my men don't get a call from me. Your family is dead)_

Carmine hesitated with the trigger, but his gun was still pointed at Franchetti. In that second, Franchetti managed to draw his own gun and shoot Carmine in the stomach. Carmine fell to the ground, like Bacchus had, clutching his stomach and blood pouring out. Only he was unable to say anything.

"Patetico," _(Pathetic)_ he said before walking away.

Chuck had been delayed in his arrival to the basement following a swarm of people, causing him to loose track of Franchetti and Carmine. But as he saw the body laying on the floor he rushed over to see the barely breathing man.

"Are you okay? Stupid question," he corrected. "I work for the government, where's Franchetti?"

Carmine took a deep breath, it would be one of his last and coughed heavily and began to speak in a heavy Italian accent. "He...got...away...Frankie Franchetti...part of mafia...threatened my family." He sucked in another breath. Chuck knew that he was letting Franchetti get away, but any information Carmine could give would be helpful.

"He...was after some chip...killed the blonde man in laundry room...his car in BMW... plate BDS...421," he struggled. Carmine's time was ending.

"Okay, we'll catch him. Don't worry, we'll get you medical attention immediately." He spoke into his comm link. "Sarah, Sarah we have a man down, wound is fatal. Okay, he needs help!" He turned back to Carmine. "We'll get you help. Just, just hold on."

"No," he shook his head, or tried to at least. "You have to...to...catch him...It's too late for me," he took a painful breath, gasped in pain and swore in Italian. "He has my family...catch him...kill him."

"We'll catch him," Chuck promised. "Is there anything else?"

"Chip...also has part-partner link,...needed something for...organization...Ful-ful."

"Fulcrum?"

"Yes...if they have it-" the words literally died on the man's tongue as he died.

"What link? What about Fulcrum?" Chuck desperately asked. But it was too late, the man was dead. Franchetti may have gotten away but the chip would at least have some security and they now had further information. He could hear Sarah running over to him.

"Chuck," the words barely escaped her lips as she caught sight of Chuck kneeling next to a dead Carmine.

"He got away, Franchetti got away," he muttered.

"We have to tell Graham, we'll find him, Chuck," she said, trying to sound more confident than she really felt.

"I think we have a new lead on Fulcrum."

* * *

**AN: Next chapter: What will Graham's reaction be to the mission? What was the link Carmine was talking about? Will they find Franchetti before he gets the info on the chip? I hope that was worth the wait and I apologize to any shippers that there wasn't that much Charah in this chapter. Also I know it was a little mean making Sarah have to go after Bacchus right after Paris, but it was mostly flirting. Also I don't speak Italian, if anything's wrong blame google translate.**

**You might be thinking why Chuck stayed with Carmine rather than going after Franchetti, but come on, this may be AU but it is Chuck and he's not going to just leave a dying guy (unless it's Shaw, everybody would leave if it was Shaw). Anyway please please review to tell me what you think. **


	12. Aftermath

**AN: I did it! I actually met this deadline, I promised myself I would get this out to you guys before school. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this and please please review, they make me smile.**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Aftermath **

******_10:30PM_**  
**_Director Graham's Office_**  
**_CIA Headquarters _**  
**_Washington DC_**

Chuck and Sarah sat anxiously waiting for Graham to enter. Whoever did the CIA's cleaning up had gone to the hotel and recovered both bodies which were being autopsied at that very moment. Sarah told Chuck about the burn phone under the sink and he told her about Carmine's dying words.

They'd given in their report to Graham and he'd been off to check something. Other than the mission they'd barely talked and Chuck felt like there seemed to be a certain gap between them, a void of some kind.

"Sarah I-" he began, but Graham walked in causing him to get cut off. He promised himself they'd talk later.

"Well, your mission did not go as I'd hoped," he said looking agitated, Chuck didn't blame him, he felt as if he'd screwed up big time. "Luckily, Agent Carmichael's information on Franchetti's vehicle and surveillance cameras is narrowing down options as to where he might have gone. We have a team going after him."

"Sir, I apologize for not going after Franchetti," Chuck spoke up. "However, even though he got away I managed to get some information from-"

"I understand Agent Carmichael," he replied putting three brown folders on his desk. "The autopsy reports came in and we've identified the man in the parking lot as Carmine De Luca. He had several run ins with the law in his youth but was mostly clean during his time as an adult."

"So how did he get involved with Franchetti?" Sarah asked.

"The company he worked for began facing bankruptcy and eventually ended up owing a debt to the Italian Mafia."

"Carmine said that Franchetti had his family. What do we know about that?" Chuck asked.

"From what we have so far Carmine has a wife and two children. We viewed the surveillance tapes from the parking lot and from what we gather, now that Carmine is dead the family will most likely be killed or at least kept in captivity. If we find Franchetti we can most likely get out his family."

"We have to rescue his family," Chuck interrupted.

"We have a team looking into it," Graham said, again, fairly annoyed at Chuck's interruptions.

"What do we have on Franchetti?"

Graham turned to the second folder. "Francis "Frankie" Franchetti is one of the members of the Franchetti Crime Family and has multiple dealings with the Italian mafia."

"How did he obtain the information about the chip?"

"The thing is, about six months ago we sent an agent undercover to the Franchetti Crime Family, it's only now we realize that he was turned by Franchetti. His name is Dylan Wilkes, we lost contact with him last week. We assumed the worst but apparently it's more than that."

"Wait a minute," Chuck interrupted "Bacchus wanted full immunity and the suitcase of money in exchange for the chip. If he's a billionaire, the money should have been trivial and what did he need the immunity for?"

"We're currently digging into Bacchus. But we have a suspicion that they're funding terrorists and the mafia has something to do with it. That's what he wanted immunity for. As for the money, we're still unclear on that but people like this, money is everything."

"What about the burn phone in Bacchus' room?"

"We have analysts getting into it," he said as the phone rang, Graham picked it up. "Yes? Alright good work, keep tracking him down, we can't afford to lose sight of this guy." He hung up the phone and turned back to his agents. "Right now Franchetti is expendable, we just need the chip back."

"Sir, before Carmine died, he said that there was a link to this chip, something about Fulcrum but he died before he got to explain it."

Graham paused for a minute. "Then maybe Wilkes wasn't turned by Franchetti, maybe he was working for Fulcrum the whole time?" Graham pondered before clearing his throat.

"Now, this mission might just be back under control and once we have the chip back I'm willing to look the other way, but that doesn't change the fact that you messed up. Until we can figure out how to proceed with our new information, consider yourselves benched."

"Sir," Sarah tried to argue.

"I'm sorry, Agent Walker," he said. "You're both dismissed."

* * *

Chuck felt even worse now that they'd gotten benched and the gap/void/whatever you wanted to call it seemed to have increased even further between him and Sarah. Chuck made a choice, they had to fix it now, if it began to fester, it meant everyone would get hurt and he refused to let that happen. They'd been in complete silence since they left Graham's office.

"I'm sorry for getting us benched," he said finally, turning to Sarah. "Okay? I know that you're mad at me and I know I should have gone after Franchetti to recover the chip because that was our mission but I couldn't and I'm sorry," he sighed.

"I'm not mad at you for getting us benched," she replied sounding more like Agent Walker the spy than Sarah, his girlfriend.

"Okay, then why are you mad at me?" she didn't reply. "Sarah I need you to tell me." Still no response.

Chuck glanced down at the concrete parking lot. "Okay how about this? We go back to my place just to relax and have a super late dinner or super early breakfast, depending on how you want to look at it. We write the mission reports and if you feel like telling me, then you can."

"Chuck-"

"Just a super late dinner and writing reports, that's it."

"...Alright" she finally agreed.

* * *

******_11:00PM_**  
_Chuck's Apartment_  
**_Washington DC _**

They arrived at Chuck's apartment about a half hour later after getting cheeseburgers from a 24 hour fast food joint, extra pickles for Sarah of course. They rode in her Porsche and the ride had been very quiet, it seemed like she still wasn't going to tell him so they at in silence as well. They made an attempt at small talk which ended up with one worded answers as they ate.

Writing the mission reports was easier. They'd already given the oral report to Graham so this was just like recounting what happened during the mission. Because they were typing away at separate computers it was less awkward but they kept stealing glances when the other wasn't looking.

Chuck was beginning to wonder why she'd even agreed to this. But they'd taken her car so if she really wanted to leave she could have ages ago. As he recounted the mission onto the document, he tried to recount anything he might have done to piss off Sarah.

By the time they finished writing the reports, she still hadn't said anything and it was midnight. Chuck told her that there was a spare bedroom if she wanted to sleep their, but she opted to stay with him. Another thing which confused him, but he didn't object and lent her one of his t-shirts and a pair of boxer shorts, since she didn't have any sleepwear at his place.

Finally after fifteen or twenty or God knew how many minutes facing opposite sides with a noticeable gap between them. Sarah finally sat up in bed and spoke up. Truth be told, neither of them had been sleeping at all.

"Chuck," she whispered, half hoping he'd be asleep and this could wait until morning.

"Mmph," he muttered, turning to face her and sitting up. "Yeah, what's up?"

"I-I'm not mad at you for getting us benched. That was just, I guess that didn't help but it's not the reason I was kinda mad."

Chuck nodded. "So what was the reason?"

"Well, do you remember when you contacted me to say you were going after Carmine and Franchetti?"

"Yeah."

"I told you it wasn't safe to go without backup and you went anyway," she looked away for a moment. "I guess I-I was scared. Scared that you would get killed because you didn't have any backup. I mean, you had told me point blank that these guys had just killed somebody and you were about to go after them by yourself," she paused. "I mean, I understand why you did it but it didn't make me stop worrying."

Chuck listened attentively to what she was saying. "Why didn't you just tell me that earlier?"

"Because I guess I uh," she tried to find words to phrase her thoughts properly. "When I'm scared, I don't like to admit it. I don't like to be vulnerable so I deflect it, I ignore it or try to at least so it kind of comes of as if I'm mad."

Chuck understood that. Spies weren't supposed to be vulnerable or scared, so when she leaned against him with her head on his chest he couldn't help but smile a little.

"I'm sorry for running off. I guess I didn't really think it through, I was being so focused on the mission and trying to get the chip back," he said.

"It's just that I've never," again Sarah tried to find a way to phrase her thoughts into word, proper sentences. "Growing up, I never really had that much stability in my life. And when the prospect of losing you came into my head, of things changing again and losing you, I-I guess I got kind of mad at you for running off and being the hero and getting left behind for my world to get turned upside down. When I saw Carmine on the ground I just kept thinking that could have easily been you if Franchetti found out you were following him. I can't lose you, Chuck."

He knew how hard this was for her and as much as he wanted to press and ask why her life growing up wasn't very stable, he didn't. Instead, Chuck kissed the top pf her head and promised her something.

"I'll never run off on my own again, I promise."

Sarah shook her head. "You can't promise that. I mean, sure, you might not run off for the next couple of missions but then eventually you'll end up having to because there's not enough time or you have to defuse a bomb or save someones life."

Chuck could see the logic in what she was saying. "So what can I do?"

"I guess...Nothing. I mean I know this business that we work in is not safe and I know that we're going to have to make split second decisions for the greater good and I don't even know why I was mad at you because you did make the right choice and God this must sound so messed up," she sighed defeated.

Chuck gently took one of her hands in his own and looked into her deep blue eyes. "It's not messed up Sarah. I-I couldn't stand the thought of losing you either. So, you're right I can't promise that I will never run off on my own again, but I can promise that I will always to everything I can to get back to you."

"You swear?" she asked.

"I swear," he raised three fingers. "Scouts honor."

Sarah chuckled and smiled. It was the smile he loved seeing, the one she only showed when they were together, her eyes would light up and it made you feel as if you owned the world. If he could make her smile like that everyday, he would be complete.

"You are so beautiful," he says, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She pulled him in for a long lasting kiss. Sarah was pretty sure she could feel him smiling through it. When they finally pulled away, they settled back into lying down, Chuck held Sarah in his arms and in minutes they were both sound asleep.

* * *

**_7:00AM _  
_Chuck's Apartment_  
****_Washington DC_**

Basic rule of thumb was that you needed seven hours sleep to function properly for the day. With being a spy, it was different, basic rule of thumb is sleep as much as you can when you're safe because you never know when you'll get captured or put on 24 hour surveillance or who knows what else.

Chuck stirred, he had his arms around Sarah and one of his legs in between hers. In their current position, he probably wasn't going to be able to get up without waking her. Gently lifting his arms, he attempted to extract his leg without waking her, but that proved to be a failure as she stirred as well.

"Chuck?"

"Yeah?"

"What time is it?" she mumbled groggily.

"Ah, seven."

"Then it's too early to get up."

"I'm sorry, what was I thinking?" he asked playfully as he heard his stomach grumble.

"Judging by that, you were thinking that you were hungry?" she guessed. "Go," she said. "Eat."

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before getting out of bed. Chuck made his way to the kitchen/living area where he poured himself a bowl of cereal and put on a pot of coffee. He then, switched on the TV, lowered the volume and turned to the breakfast news channel.

_"Thank Alan, that was Alan Smith with sports," _one of the news anchors said_. "In other news there was a car accident late last night, a black BMW blew out one of its wheels and lost control of its handling on the Interstate 395. The accident stopped traffic for two hours as medical help and police went to the scene. The driver was killed and the passenger was taken to hospital and we are currently waiting for medical results." _

"A black BMW," Chuck muttered under his breath. "Franchetti's car?" quickly, he booted up his laptop and typed in the web address for the website of the Washington Post. After scrolling down a few articles he found it.

_'Blown-out Tyre on 395 Causes 2 hour Traffic Wait' by Donna Myers. _

Chuck clicked on the picture of the car, using one of his softwares he blew it up to size and noticed a very precise hole in the car window. One that he was certain was made from a bullet. Then, he focused on the license plate.

BDS-421.

The same licence plate Carmine De Luca gave him before he died. This was Franchetti's car. And it was no blown out tyre, this had been orchestrated by the CIA in order to recover the chip. Right now, he could bet almost anything that the passenger wasn't in hospital, but in a CIA interrogation cell.

At that very moment, he heard Sarah's phone go off in his room and she turned over to answer it. Seeing Graham's face on the caller ID woke her up quickly.

"Walker secure."

"Graham secure. Agent Walker, can you get in contact with Agent Carmichael?"

"Uh, yes I think so," she said, acting as if she wasn't in the same apartment as him. "Why?"

"I need the two of you in my office in an hour."

"Sir, not to question your orders, but I thought Agent Carmichael and I were benched as a result of last night's mission."

"That's true, but I just may be willing to reconsider. Contact Carmichael and tell him," with that, the voice on the other line went dead.

Sarah stood up from her position in bed and walked out to the living area of Chuck's apartment, to find the TV switched on the the news and Chuck at his computer. There was a bowl of cereal on the kitchen counter, which appeared to have been abandoned.

"Chuck?"

"Huh?" his eyes shot up from the computer. "Oh, yeah, hi, morning," he said quickly. "You want some coffee?"

"Ah, no thanks. I just got a call from Graham, we need to be in his office in an hour. So I need to get back to my place and change."

"Um sure," he said. "I have to show you something first, Sarah," he gestured for her to come over to the computer and she did. Chuck opened the browser showing the article of the car crash on the 395.

"This was on the news this morning. Said that the car blew out one of its wheels and crashed. Driver was killed, passenger in hospital. But I looked closer and there was what I think is a bullet hole through the back windshield. And the car has the same plates Carmine gave me before he died."

"So it's Franchetti's car?"

"Yeah, I think so. CIA probably orchestrated it to look like an accident. Franchetti's probably in interrogation."

"I guess we'll have to find out," she said.

* * *

**_8:00AM _  
_Director Graham's Office_  
_CIA Headquarters_  
****_Washington DC_**

Nobody likes to piss of their boss. Especially when their boss happens to be the Director of the CIA which is why Chuck and Sarah ensured that they were not a minute late to the meeting. Sitting across Graham in the all too familiar office.

"We caught Franchetti," he said curtly. "And recovered the chip. We also dug into Zander Bacchus and our suspicions were correct," he dumped a stack of papers onto teh desk for Chuck and Sarah to see. "He's been funding money to terrorist organizations, the mafia, Yakuza, you name it."

"So the chip is safe?" Sarah asked.

"The chip is safe. Franchetti is in interrogation, although we do have to be careful, this could end up an international incident if we're not."

"What about Carmine De Luca's family?" Chuck questioned.

"We've contacted several of our contacts in Italy, by now the police in Venice have been brought in, we don't have any update further than that," he glanced down and then cleared his throat. "But the real reason that the two of you are here is that you have a new mission."

"A new mission, Director?" Chuck raised a brow. "I-I thought that we were benched?"

"You were," Graham said. "Let me get something straight, last nights mission did not go as planned. But, given that the chip has been recovered and we've been able to receive more information on Fulcrum because of it, I'm willing to look the other way. The two of you can consider yourselves back in the field."

"Wow," Sarah breathed. "Thank you, Director."

"Yeah, thank you sir," Chuck said.

"Now, that being said, you have a new mission," he said. "We received Intel that Wilkes, the rogue agent that we sent to the Franchetti Crime Family is arriving in LA tonight. He is going to meet with Franchetti to obtain a copy of the chip. The plan is to nail him when he arrives tonight in a private plane. Bring him in."

"What about backup?"

"Major Casey from the NSA will be joining you. Since we're near certain Wilkes has ties to Fulcrum, the NSA want in."

* * *

**_9:00PM  
Private Airfield  
Washington DC_**

The plan was simple. Pose as ramp service, when the plane landed, apprehend Wilkes and then go home. It was simple enough to handle, waving those red lights as the plane landed. After a few minutes Wilkes exited with three men on either side of him.

"Hmm, so he brought some muscle," Casey grunted, before speaking into his earpiece. "This is Casey. Wilkes has company surrounding him, take them out but leave the traitor."

"Roger that, Major."

"Carmichael, Walker, take cover," he said.

In a few seconds, Chuck, Sarah and Casey were well in cover and two shots rang out, knocking down two of the me guarding Wilkes. Quickly catching on, they drew their guns and began firing (presumably by luck) in the direction of the sniper. Casey removed his gun from it's place and took out one of the men, heading towards his direction.

But the sniper was one of the best in the business, and despite the shots in his direction. He managed to take out the remaining of Wilkes' guards. He let out a small smile at a job well done before paging in Casey.

"Major, the men are no longer a threat. Wilkes is all yours."

"Dylan Wilkes!" Casey called from his hiding place and standing up. The traitorous agent looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, but panicked and drew his gun.

"Stay where you are!" Wilkes looked panicked.

"NSA, you're under arrest! Drop your weapon!"

He gritted his teeth and pulled a detonator from his suit pocket. "This airfield is lined with explosives," he moved his thumb so that it was just on the button. "You shoot me, we both die!"

Casey lowered his gun slightly, it was likely Wilkes was bluffing, but you couldn't be too sure.

"That's good. So, you're gonna let me walk away and in return, I won't blow you sky high," Wilkes grinned.

In that second, Chuck made a decision. "Cover me," he whispered quickly to Sarah. He didn't know where he got this confidence from but somehow he had it, and tackled Wilkes out of nowhere. Chuck was no football player like Devon, but the tackle was strong enough to knock over Wilkes and send the detonator flying out of his hand.

And then the whole thing felt like it would be in slow motion as Sarah ran out, to catch the detonator in time before it hit the ground as Casey had Wilkes in cuffs and Chuck got back on his feet.

"Mission complete," he said managing a smile.

* * *

**AN: I have no clue whether this is bad or not but I really wanted to get out something before I go back to school tomorrow. I have exams in week 4, so I don't know how much I'll be able to update from here. Anyway, thanks for reading and please please review. **


	13. Visitors

**AN: I'M BAAAAAAACK! Did you miss me? Yeah it's okay, I wouldn't miss me either. Look, I had exams, studying and stressing like crazy and then writers block and getting sick. It's all a big conspiracy I tell you! Anyway, anyway, I apologize for taking forever to update this. I don't know if it's any good since like much of my stuff, it was written in several different bits in several different times. But I really hope that you enjoy and please please review. This chapter will be lots a fluff, a little break from the spy world that will be coming back next chapter.**

**I don't own Chuck. If I did, do you really think I'd be writing fanfic and have been freaking out over exams. **

**Again, please, please review.**

* * *

**Chapter 13: Visitors **

**_9:30PM  
__Chuck's Apartment  
Washington DC_**

Chuck had his arm draped over the shoulders of his lovely girlfriend as they walked towards his apartment. Another successful mission, another apprehended bad guy, another step closer to taking down Fulcrum. He wasn't used to it, but man did he like it.

Cleanup with the mission had been surprisingly fast and Chuck had invited Sarah back to his apartment for a date night type of event, including a movie and another late dinner. So they had stopped off at Sarah's place so she could get an overnight bag and then for Chinese takeout (the place was open to surprisingly late) and she let him pick the movie, given her lack of knowledge in that particular area.

And that was how they ended up watching Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Sarah had asked at first why they were starting from the fourth movie and not the first and Chuck went on to explain George Lucas' intention with releasing Episodes 4,5 and 6 before prequels 1,2 and 3. She didn't really get the point and nodded her head like she understood.

As Chuck slotted in the DVD into the player and turned to Sarah before returning to the couch.

"Are you ready for the most epic 125 minutes of your life?" he asked jokingly.

"I think the most epic 125 minutes of my life already happened," she grinned. "I seem to recall a very nice train compartment and a bed."

Chuck blushed a little as he settled back onto the couch and hit the play button on the remote.

They were about half an hour into the movie when the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" Chuck asked, then he pulled his phone off the coffee table to check the time. "It's ten."

He got up and opened the door to see the smiling faces of his sister and her boyfriend. Ellie squealed.

"Chuck! It's so good to see you baby brother!" she smiled pulling him into a tight hug.

"Yeah! You too Ellie," he smiled. "Awesome!...To see you Devon!" he said as Devon pulled Chuck into a hug.

"Sarah!" Ellie squealed, spotting the blonde on the couch, Sarah stood up to return the hug to Ellie. "It's great to see you again!"

"You too," she said. "Chuck didn't tell me you guys were visiting."

"It's a surprise," Ellie smiled. "Devon and I got some time off work and we decided to visit my favorite little brother."

"Favorite? Gee, El, that's a big honor," Chuck joked. "I mean, considering all the competition I have to put up with."

Ellie laughed. "Shut up," she smiled, turning to the TV screen. "Oh my God, Sarah, is Chuck making you sit through Star Wars?"

"Hey! Star Wars, the original trilogy at least is a timeless classic that will live on for decades, maybe even centuries " Chuck argued as he and Devon joined the girls on the couch.

"No, I suggested we watch a movie after work and I made the mistake of asking Chuck to pick," Sarah explained. She spotted a puppy dog type look from her boyfriend. "I'm just kidding. It's fine."

"Oh!" Ellie exclaimed, in sudden realization. "Did we crash your date? We're so so sorry!"

"No, no, it's fine really. In fact you probably saved me from having to sit through the other 90 minutes of Star Wars," Sarah managed to get out. _'Did you just make a joke Walker? Chuck must be rubbing off on you.' _she thought.

"You just said it was fine a moment ago," Chuck raised a brow. "And we're totally watching it again some other time." He hit the pause button on the remote. "So Ellie, Devon, how long are you in town for?"

"About a week. This is great, Chuck! I mean we can finally see where you work and you can take us around and-"

Chuck and Sarah shot each other looks. Show Ellie where her brother works? Yeah, CIA Headquarters is not much of a place where you wanna take civilians who are on vacation. Quickly they had to think up a cover story about why Ellie couldn't see where he worked.

"No!" Chuck said. Ellie and Devon gave him confused looks. "I mean, the company, the office is being...renovated!" he said. "Something about a study showing that certain colors and atmospheres increase, ah, good work habits and stimulate the, uh, brain."

Okay, that was not a complete lie. He had read a study online about something like that.

"So where have you guys been working since the renovation?" Devon asked.

"Well, we've been working from home. If they need me to look over something or write a specific program they just email the details to me," Chuck answered. _Boy, that was close. _"It's pretty sweet," he added. "I mean, I get to work in my pajamas and play Call Of Duty on my breaks."

"Sounds awesome, bro!" Devon high-fived him.

"So I don't suppose there's any chance Morgan came along with you guys?" Chuck said.

"Chuck, I put up with Morgan for you, for 17 years. That's right, since you were six! But I would never be able to spend five hours in the confined space of an airplane with Morgan Grimes."

"Tough break for the bearded man," Chuck replied, causing everybody to laugh.

The four chatted on for a while as the night grew later and later. Devon went to the toilet and Chuck excused himself to go fix up the guest bedroom for them. Sarah and Ellie continued talking , Ellie reached over for her drink and Sarah caught sight of it.

"Ellie."

"Yeah?"

"Is that?" she pointed to Ellie's ring finger, Chuck's sister paled. "Oh my God! You and Devon?"

"Engaged," she finished.

"Wow," Sarah smiled. "Congratulations."

"Thanks, okay, promise me that you won't tell Chuck, we kind of wanted it to be a surprise."

"Yeah, yeah, of course."

"Hey," Chuck smiled coming in from the spare room. "Bedroom's all set up. Sheets are just the way you like them folded, Sis."

"Thank you."

"You taught me well," he shrugged.

Ellie excused herself to go find Devon, Sarah made her way to Chuck. As much as she enjoyed the company of Ellie, Devon and Chuck, it was time for her to go home. This was family time for him and she shouldn't be intruding.

"Listen, Chuck, I think I should head home."

"What? Why?"

"Ellie and Devon are here-"

"Come on, they like having you around," he argued.

"It's family time."

He looked straight at her. "I know."

"Chuck, really I should go."

He felt his heart drop a bit. But he agreed. "Okay," he gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Bye."

It wasn't that she didn't like Ellie and Devon. They were interesting and kind and she enjoyed chatting with them, but this was family time for Chuck. She didn't really have a place to intrude, after all, what did she know about family? Her own was dysfunctional, she hadn't seen her mother in years and her dad was all over the place. Besides, she needed to just relax, think for a bit.

* * *

**_The Following Day  
8:00AM  
__Sarah's Apartment  
Washington DC_**

Knock, knock, knock.

Sarah peaked through the peephole of her door to see who it was. Chuck. She smiled and opened the door.

"Hey, they were out of fruit so I was forced to bring up a couple of chocolate croissants," he smiled holding up a paper bag.

"Thank you," she replied, opening the door further so that he could get in. Sarah took the bag. "Where are Ellie and Devon?"

"Probably still sleeping. I figured I'd let them adjust to the time difference. By the way, have you finished the mission report for last night?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can I take a look at it?"

"Um sure, okay," she said, "Why?"

"I didn't have time with Ellie and Awesome at my place," he said. "So I guess this is like copying homework in school, huh?" Chuck laughed a little.

Sarah chuckled. "I guess so."

"So um, how come you left last night," Chuck asked sitting down next to her on the couch.

Sarah glanced down at the croissant in her hand. "I uh, it was family time Chuck. I didn't want to intrude."

"You know, you're like family to me."

She said nothing. Sarah Walker had no experience in what a family was. To be called a part of one, was...touching, even for a spy. Still, she didn't no how to react. They could teach you a lot of things at the farm, this was not one of the things they trained you for.

"Thanks, Chuck," she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "That means a lot."

He smiled. "No problem." I love you- is what he really wanted to say. But would Sarah think that he was moving to fast? At that moment, his phone rang. Chuck looked down at it. It was Ellie.

"Hey El, what's up?"

_"Where are you?" _

"I'm at Sarah's. Jet lag can be annoying so I figured I'd let you and Captain Awesome sleep in."

_"Thanks Chuck. And please don't call him that." _

"Fine, fine. So what happening?"

_"Well, do you remember James Thompson?" _

"No, I don't think I do," Chuck narrowed his eyes trying to remember.

_"He was one of Devon's frat brothers back in college." _

"One of the frats, probably, why?"

_"Well he lives in DC now and he offered to show us around a little and take us to lunch and dinner today."_

"I thought you didn't like Devon's frat brothers?"

_"Most of them. But James married my friend Nancy, remember I introduced them when you visited. Summer of 2001?" _

"Ah yes, another successful statistic by matchmaker Ellie Bartowski," Chuck grinned.

_"Shut up. But yeah. Anyway, he's a lot less rowdy than the others and I haven't seen Nancy in a while." _

"Hey, sis, whatever you want. It's your vacation, if you wanna see your friend have fun."

_"Alright, just thought I'd let you know. Oh, invite Sarah over for dinner tomorrow. I'll make something." _

"Ellie, you're a guest, shouldn't I cook?"

_"Just invite Sarah, I'll take care of the rest." _

"Alright, I never could say no to your cooking," Chuck replied with a smile. "Have fun, I'll see you later."

_"Thanks. Bye Chuck. Say hello to Sarah for me." _

"Will do."

Chuck hit the disconnect button on his phone and turned to Sarah. Ellie says hi, but she and Awesome are spending the day with some old friends who moved here. Also, do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow night?"

"Sounds great," she smiled.

"So we have the day to ourselves?"

"Yeah. So any ideas?"

"I do have one," she smiled. Before he could ask, Chuck felt her soft, sweet lips an his. She could feel him smiling through the kiss. suddenly, Chuck changed the position and flipped over so that Sarah had her back on the couch.

"Mmm, very smooth Chuck," she broke the kiss. "Oh God," she moaned as he began kissing down from her jawbone down her neck.

* * *

**_11:50 AM  
__Sarah's Apartment  
Washington DC_**

Chuck woke up, the scent of vanilla filling his nose. He couldn't help grinning, Sarah Walker and vanilla went together perfectly. He turned over to the other side of the bed to check the time. There was no alarm clock, so he fished his phone out of his pants pocket on the floor. His eyes widened a little bit. It was almost time for lunch. That was how long they had...Wow.

He felt Sarah stir on the other side of the bed. The bed shifted a little and he lay back down next to her.

"Hey," he said, gently.

"Mmmph," she shifted onto her back and smiled at him. "Hey."

"You smell really nice," he said. "And you look really cute when you sleep."

"Thank you. What time is it?"

"Almost lunch," he kissed her. "So do you wanna go out? Get something to eat, maybe?"

"Mmm, later," she said. "I need some sleep right now."

"Whatever you want, babe," he stroked her cheek. He saw her stiffen a little bit. "Sorry, I know we don't really do pet names."

"No, no," Sarah replied. "Actually, I-I kinda like the sound of it."

"Okay," Chuck grinned. "Go back to sleep."

"What about you?"

"I'll go back to sleep too," he assured her. "It feels like having a night job, huh? Getting up at night, sleeping in the day? Although, I could totally do this for the rest of my life."

"Me too," she managed to say, despite the words 'rest of my life' scaring her a little bit. And then, she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

* * *

**_The Next Day  
7:30PM  
__Chuck's Apartment  
Washington DC_**

"Ellie that pot roast smells amazing!" Chuck called out.

"Indeed, babe," Devon chimed in.

"Thanks guys, now shoo, shoo, out of my kitchen," Ellie swatted away.

"Technically it's my kitchen," Chuck muttered with a slight chuckled under his breath. It was funny, he could be a CIA spy now, but his sister could still order him around like she could when he was twelve. There was a knock at the door.

"It's Sarah, I'll get it," he called out. Chuck opened the door and he smiled, seeing the blonde hair and blue eyes that he found so perfect and loved seeing. "Hey, you made it."

"Of course I did. I brought wine," she said, holding up a bottle of white.

"Thanks, that's so sweet," he said. "Hey El, Devon! Sarah's here."

"Sarah! You're here, awesome!" Devon boomed.

"Well dinner's ready," Ellie said walking out of the kitchen. "Sarah! Great to see you," Ellie squealed, giving her and hug.

"Dinner smells fantastic, Ellie. I remember that lasagna you made when Chuck and I visited Burbank. You would have made a terrific chef."

"Or interrogator," Chuck added causing everyone to laugh a little.

The four sat around the table, eating and chatting. Ellie's pot roast of course, was no short of perfect. They talked and laughed and chatted. Ellie began telling Sarah stories about things he did when he was a little kid.

"So Chuck was seven years old and playing Star Wars with Morgan. And they've got the whole lightsabers and blasters and everything getup, cloaks too, Chuck decides that he needs to look 'the part' of Han Solo. He goes into the bathroom to get some of the gel or hairspray or something. But he grabs the wrong tube, the glue for my science project!" Ellie laughed. "His hair was so messy and sticky and he was freaking out."

"Nice Sis, embarrass me in front of my girlfriend," Chuck laughed.

"Relax, I think it's cute."

"Hey how about after dinner we play Know Ya!?" Ellie suggested.

Chuck rolled his eyes. Ellie could have just as easily have suggested Monoploy, Pictionary or Boggle. But she picked Know Ya! That was because it was the only game where you got to interrogate people. The CIA missed out on a Class A interrogator.

"Chuck, Devon and I have something to say," Ellie said. "Well, I guess, here's how to put it..."

"We're engaged!" Devon finished.

Chuck took a moment to process everything they had just said. I big smile broke out on his face. "Wow! That's-that's awesome, you guys! That's just...amazing, I am so happy for you, Ellie," he gave his sister a big hug. "And Devon, man, welcome to the family. For real, it's going to be awesome!"

"You said it, bro."

* * *

**AN: Yes I know this is pretty short but I felt bad about not posting for like two months. So, you might hate me again but I'm going away next Sunday for like two months. I don't know how much time I'll have to update but I will try to, I swear. Anyway, thanks for reading and please, please review. **


	14. Opportunities

**AN: Please don't hate me for taking so long. I'm overseas until late Janruary and I have no wifi. The horror, right? So basically, three tennagers (including myself), one computer with internet access. Fun right? Okay, I'll cut the sarcasm now. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please, please review.**

* * *

**Chapter 14: Opportunities **

**__****_Washington DC_**  
CIA Headquarters  
Director Graham's Office

Langston Graham looked down at the file. Agent Charles Carmichael and his star protege Agent Sarah Walker were his 'dream team' currently. But there was something more to Carmichael. He was smart, a Stanford man, and a good agent but there was something more to him than that. It was just a matter of deciding if he was ready for something this big, this major in Intelligence.

**_Personal Agent File HIGHLY CLASSIFIED_**

_**Name:** Charles Carmichael aka Charles Irving Bartowski  
**Gender**: Male  
**Affiliation:** CIA  
Agent Sarah Walker (partner)  
**Position:** Field Agent, Former Analyst (Cover as a Software Designer)  
**Title:** Agent  
**Current Status:** Alive  
**Born:** September 18, 198  
__**Known Family:** Stephen Bartowski (father;missing)  
__ Mary Bartowski (mother; missing)  
__ Dr. Eleanor Bartowski (sister)_

___**Expertise:** Computer expert and genius level intellect; Engineering and Electronics Expert (Engineering Diploma attained from Stanford University in 2003); Espionage and self-defense training; Marksmanship skills.  
**NOTE:** High retention of subliminal information retention. Scored 98% on Encoded Images Exam at Stanford University._

___**Recruited:** 2003 by George Flemming at Stanford University._

___**Training Reports**_

___**Combat: **Sufficient in self-defense, however, Carmichael is initially unwilling to be the one to make the first attack. He is making steady progress in all areas of self defense. Under some methods, however, trainer was able to convince Carmichael to make the first attack as opposed to just defense._

___**Firearms: **Carmichael has very good aim and proficient in marksmanship. However, when aiming at mannequins of people as opposed to targets, Carmichael tends to miss when making fatal shots. Scoring 8/10 on targets however only 3/10 on mannequins. Trainers have been able to bump up Carmichael's score on mannequins to 5.5/10._

___**Fitness:** Carmichael is fit in general. His running has improved significantly since he first began training. _

___****__Infiltration and Inducement of Enemy Personnel: __Carmichael is initially uncomfortable with seduction of a mark. He manages to establish physical contact with the mark, however never going towards intimacy. Contact is minimal by Carmichael's choice, but he is attempting to feel more at ease with women. _

___****__Infiltrating, Compromising Communications and Data Systems: __Carmichael's area of expertise. He is extremely skilled at hacking, infiltrating and compromising systems. During his 'Survival During Undercover Operations' (see below) he was able to contact for help and extract information from 'enemy' files. This is by far his best area of training and passed this part of training with flying colors. _

___****__Survival During Undercover Operations: __Carmichael survived torture training and in the hypothetical situation we put him in where he and his 'team' were captured. He managed to infiltrate 'enemy' computers to send back 'enemy' files. He had several minor injuries from this. _

Graham put down the file. He glanced through a few of the other candidates, but Carmichael seemed to be the best candidate out of all of them. But this was major, working on the Omaha Project. Military operations. Admittedly, at first the lanky analyst from Stanford didn't seem like he was the right guy for the job, but the successful missions were just proving this wrong every second.

* * *

**__****_8:30AM  
Washington DC_**  
Chuck's Arpartment

With Ellie and Devon's week of vacation, flying by fast, they'd gotten up early that day, leaving Chuck in pajamas, eating his breakfast when his phone went off. He furrowed his brow and glanced at the caller ID. Graham.

"Carmichael secure."

"Graham secure. Agent Carmichael, I need you to be in my office in half an hour," Graham said, leaving no room for argument.

"Yes Sir, what's this about?"

"It's too classified to talk about over the phone. I want you in my office in half an hour, understood?"

"Uh yes, sir. What about Agent Walker?"

There was a pause as Chuck waited for his reply.

"She's unaware of this. And things are to remain that way until I give you instructions otherwise, understand?"

"Ah, yes. Of course, Director."

"Good. See you in half an hour."

Chuck threw the phone onto the couch after hitting the disconnect button and collapsed onto the couch. What could be so important that it couldn't be said over the phone? Okay, to be fair, he was a spy so lots of stuff. But not having his own partner there. This was big.

* * *

**__****_9:00AM  
Washington DC_**  
CIA Headquarters  
Director Graham's Office

"Carmichael," Graham said as Chuck entered the room. "Right on time."

Chuck nodded his head and took a seat in front of the Director like he usually did. It felt strange not having Sarah in the seat next to him, but he decided to get down to business. He cleared his throat and began to talk.

"So what's happening, Director?"

"Agent Carmichael, I'm sure you are aware of the Omaha Project?"

"The Intersect Project?" Chuck raised a brow. _'The Intersect project? What's this about' _he thought as his mind began pondering a hundred different ways this could go. Few of them seemed like fun. Unless there was some program that could allow him to fight like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris in about three seconds. That would be pretty awesome.

"I've seen your file, we've been through all of the viable candidates for the position. You are the most qualified."

"Qualified for what?"

"Agent Carmichael, Chuck. We have a team working to make the Intersect work. To have the encoded image with information, lets call it a flash, to make it compatible with a persons subconscious," he looked the young agent in the eye. "If we can make this work, you will not believe the progress we can make in intelligence, in fighting Fulcrum."

"But you have a whole team of people working on it," Chuck replied. "What do you need me for?"

"Agent Carmichael, Bryce Larkin did not attempt to send you the Intersect for no reason. It was for the wrong reasons, but he knew you wouldn't die. Your retention rate in unbelievable. Plus with all your experience as an analyst and in fighting Fulcrum, you could play a key role in the Intersect finally working."

Chuck had cringed a little at Bryce's name. It was still something he didn't have fondness in discussing. Nevertheless, this was bigger than he'd ever imagined.

"So what would I be doing, exactly?"

"I suppose you'd be a technician, offer insight on improvements and information from field missions. In terms of actually successfully having an agent upload it, you will play a role in observing retention rates, things like that."

Chuck considered this all very carefully. Technical stuff was what he was best at, this was a chance to put all of his knowledge to use and really challenge himself and make a true difference. But then his 'conflict' began taking over him.

_'Don't do it, Chuck. This is dangerous.' _

_'Do it. Show everyone how great you really are.' _

_'What would Ellie say?'_

_'She'd be proud of you, coward. This would be right.'_

_'What if you had to keep secrets from Sarah? You're already keeping secrets from your family.'_

_'Sarah's a spy. She keeps secrets too.' _

_'You love her. Keeping secrets never works out well in a relationship.' _

_'Relationship, schlemationship, this is BIG stuff in Intelligence technology, not just looking over some reports. Sarah will understand.'_

"Agent Carmichael," Graham broke him out of his trance.

"What? Oh yeah, sorry sir. Just thinking."

"No need to apologize, I understand."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Director, but wouldn't being on this team be a lot more dangerous, especially since I'm in the field and involve a lot more...secret keeping?" he asked.

"It would," Graham nodded curtly. "I am not asking you to make a decision at this very moment, I'll give you a little while to think about it. The CIA can be more accommodating than most people think."

"Yes, sir."

"However, this is a classified project. Until you have reached a decision, you are not to discuss this with anyone but myself. Clear?"

"Yes, Director."

Chuck left the office, conflicting things racing through his head. Becoming part of the Intersect project, being part of one of the greatest millitary-intelligence operations in America, maybe even the world! But this would put him in more danger than ever, being part of it. It would put Sarah in a lot more danger. He'd seen enough superhero movies to know that when the identities of the heroes are discovered, the love intrest gets kidnapped.

Not that Sarah couldn't protect herself. Quite the oppositte actually, hell he was pretty certain she could protect herself than he could. Still, train you as hard a they can in the farm, nobody's emotions go away forever. He wished than he could talk to Ellie about this, but that would put her in danger too. He couldn't say anything, that should be the slogan for the CIA.

Join the CIA.

Protect lives.

Save the world.

Lie to everyone you care about.

As Marty McFly would say: 'This is heavy.'

Yet in his head, Chuck already knew that he'd made a decison. Every choice people are given, almost instantly they have made a choice in the back of their mind. It just takes a while sometimes, to realise that choice. How could he not be a part of this? Use his expertise to help save the world from Fulcrum or KAOS or whatever weird named organization came after them.

He wanted to talk through it with Sarah, but he couldn't. Maybe he could talk to her about it indirectly? Get her thoughts on it. Nah, she was a spy, probably the best he'd ever met. She was smart, she'd figure something was up within five minutes.

Still.

He could use some quality time with his girlfriend, take his mind of the matter. Chuck removed his phone from his pocket and dialled her number.

_"Hello?"_

"Hey Sarah, are you buys?"

_"Just finishing up in the gym. Why?"_

"Ah, I was wondering if I could come over. Ellie and Awesome are leaving in two days, so they're trying to finish up any shopping or tourist attractions type of things today. Besides," he smiled. "I want to spend some quality time with my lovely girlfirend."

_"Can you come over in half an hour?"_

"Yeah, sure. See you then."

_"Alright. See you."_

He disconnected the call, before hopping into his car.

* * *

**__****_10:00AM  
Washington DC_**  
Sarah's Apartment 

"Sorry," Chuck smiled sheepishly at the door. "Traffic was really bad."

"No problem," Sarah replied. "Come in."

A lot of the time chit-chat at the beginning of conversations can feel very tedious, but they both liked it. It reminded them what being just a normal person was about, that you weren't always a spy. It felt good...different, admittedly...but good, nonetheless. They both decided to watch TV. After a few minutes of channel surfing, Sarah had reached a conclusion.

"Okay, it's official. Morning TV sucks."

Chuck laughed a little. "Yeah, anything before five pm can be kind of a wasteland."

"Kind of?" she questioned. "Half of what we just flicked through was infomercials," she said, hitting the next button on the remote.

"Hey, Spies Like Us," Chuck remarked with a smile, seeing the movie come on to the screen. "Let's watch this."

Only a few moments of watching the movie passed.

"Okay, that, right there, they're breaking at least ten different rules of protocol right there," she pointed to the screen.

"Sarah, I'm not actually suggesting that you could learn anything about being a spy from Chevy Chase and Dan Akroyd," he chuckled a little bit, and then the words just slipped out of his mouth, like he couldn't control it. Not as if he wanted to but it felt like it was out of his control, it happened so quickly.

"I love you."

And then the moment slowed down into a screeching halt. The look on her face, her eyes went wide, she couldn't reply. Sarah had not been expecting him to say that at all, she thought he would have said some piece of pop culture trivia knowledge that she didn't know about. Not this.

"I um, uh," she was stammering. Damn it! Why was she stammering. She cared for him, very much, she liked him a lot, she liked being with him. Love? It was not a concept she was very familiar with, besides the first rule they teach you at the farm: 'Spies don't fall in love'. Coppled with all the years being all over the place with her father...To Sarah Walker love was foreign. It was not a language that she spoke fluently or at all, even. What was love?

"Chuck, um..."

In the moments she had been thinking, so had he. Chuck had completely sprung this on her, so he shouldn't expect her to respond immediately to it. But damn, why was he saying this now? Of course he knew. Because he was going to accept the offer of working on the Intersect project. And if anything happened to him or her because of the added danger, he couldn't live with himself if she didn't know he loved her.

"Chuck, I can't...I feel...Really this is..." _Why can't you even finish a sentence, Walker? _Screamed her mind.

"Look, Sarah, I-I-I know I kind of sprung this on you. B-but, it's the way I feel and if anything ever happened to me I need you to know that I love you," he told her. Chuck stroked her cheek and kissed her, slowly. When they pulled apart, Sarah spoke up.

"I-I feel the same way," she replied, glancing at the floor and then at him. "But this is all new to me, this relationship stuff...I can't say it, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Chuck assured her. "I didn't tell you to hear it back. I told you because I feel the same way," his forehead leaned against hers. Whenever you're ready, I'll be here, I promise."

"Thank you, Chuck."

* * *

**__****_Two Days Later  
Washington DC_**  
Airport 

The night before their departure, Chuck, Sarah, Ellie and Devon had all had dinner. Now, Chuck and Sarah had brought them to the airport to say goodbye. Before they entered the boarding gate, they all said their goodbyes.

"Devon, so glad you could come. It was awesome having you guys," Chuck hugged his soon to be brotehr in law.

"It was awesome being here, Chuckster. Hope we can do it soon," he grinned.

"Bye, sis," Chuck said, moving to his sister. "So glad you came, have a safe flight."

"Me too. You better be at the wedding."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he replied. "Keep me posted on the wedding."

"Of course," Ellie caught sight of Sarah. "Don't ever let her go."

"I won't."

"You too."

The four of them said their final goodbyes as Ellie and Devon entered the boarding gate. About five minutes later, Chuck's phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and then turned to Sarah, holding it up to show her who was calling.

"Looks like we have a new mission."

* * *

**AN: I know. Almost a month for this? Really 00Awesome? I kid of course...kind of. I hope you enjoyed this and don't worry about Sarah not saying it back, that's part of my next arc-ish thing. Anyway, please, please review. I don't know when my next update will be because I have limited access to the internet. So yeah...Just please, please review. **


	15. Decisions and Contemplations

**********AN: Hey guys, I know I haven't updated in forever, but I have a very good reason, aside from writers block that is. Okay, from the time I started writing on this site, I always tried to give readers what they actually want in a story (unlike some people, yes Fedak, I'm talking to you!). Usually for my earliest works, they weren't very good which was why I deleted them. Anyway, back to my point. Because people didn't like what they saw in Season 3 of Chuck, they stopped watching, which was probably the reason for the declining viewership. **

**********So clearly, if people like what's happening in the show, they'll watch it. Same goes for stories in this site, if people like what's happening in the story, they'll read it. And while my paycheck is not dependent on the number of people reading this story, I still want people to be happy with it. Along with writers block, I've been thinking about what you guys would want (based on reviews) and between my original plan for the story (which has been changed several times, admittedly.) So, for the rest of this arc, I am kind of coming to a compromise with this. **

**********End explanation. Hope you enjoy this and please, please review. **

* * *

**********Chapter 15: Decisions and Contemplations **

******__****_Washington DC_**  
Airport  
11:30AM

"Hello?" Chuck answered the phone.

"Agent Carmichael, have you reached a decision?" came Graham's voice.

"Um...Is it safe to talk about this over the phone?" Chuck querried.

"This is a secure line. Have you reached a decision?"

"No sir," Chuck cleared his throat. "No I have not."

"Alright then. This is big so I'll give you a week to think about it. I want your decision by Friday."

"Of course, sir...Wait, we don't have a mission?" Chuck asked.

"No. Not yet anyway." The call disconnected.

Chuck pressed the red button and pocketed his phone. But the look on his face was in deep thought, trying to make a choice.

"Chuck?" Sarah asked. "Is everything okay?"

"What? Yeah...fine, there's no mission."

"Then why was he calling?"

"Um...yeah, actually..." No, he wasn't going to lie. "Actually, I need to talk to you. Can we go back to your place?"

Sarah could tell that this was strange behavior for Chuck. "Why? Is everything okay?"

"I...I just need to talk to you about something. Can we go back to your place?"

"Ah sure, okay."

* * *

The drive back was pretty quiet to say the least. When they finally arrived at Sarah's. Chuck had already decided, Graham's instructions of not telling anybody would go to hell. He needed Sarah to know about this, he needed to get what she thought.

"You want some water or something?"

"Um, no, I'm good actually."

"Okay, so what's up?" she asked, sitting next to him on the couch.

"Alright, well first of all, this is kind of against orders to tell you but...I can't keep it a secret, not from you."

"Chuck, what is it?" Sarah was getting kind of worried. _What was against orders? _They were partners, was there something going on he wasn't telling her?

In his mind, right there and then, Ellie's words came into his head. 'Don't ever let her go.' Well Chuck loved Sarah and he promised himself that he was going to do everything he could to make this work.

"Graham wants me to work on the Intersect Project. Not to actually be the first human intersect, but to work on it, be a technician. But, that would mean that I...we would be in a lot more danger in the field if anyone found out I was working on it," Chuck explained. "If Fulcrum or any bad guy really found out that I was working on the Intersect Project, we would be a bigger target."

"Wow, so you'd be working on the intersect?"

"And in the field as well. I just need to know what your thoughts are, Sarah. Even if it's against orders to talk to you about it, should I take this project?"

"Chuck, this is your decision, I can't make it for you," okay so maybe that was kind of a given, but after he said 'I love you' the other day, Sarah was a little off her game. Just a little, and now here was this big decision that he had to make, her head was almost spinning.

"I know it is my decision overall, but you are the only person I can talk about this to and I need your input on it."

"Um..." she was still trying to think of an answer. "What if we listed all the pros and cons of being on the project."

"That sounds like it would be a good idea," he smiled a little. "Let's do that."

"Alright so pro, I guess would be, helping win the war against Fulcrum and helping other people."

"And con would be more danger in the field because of my knowledge on the project and less...I guess less time to just relax and be with you," he looked at her. "I mean, it's a lot more time in the 'office'" he said with quotation marks.

"Thanks Chuck, that's very sweet. But we still have to deal with the problem at hand."

"Well I can count two pros and two cons so...we need a tiebreaker," he said.

"Chuck, this is your decision," she repeated. "I think you have the final call."

"How would you feel about me doing this?" Chuck questioned.

"I, Chuck you're my boyfriend, I'd be worried about you being in danger. But if you think that this is right for you, you should go for it."

"Thank you, Sarah," he smiled. "I like this, I was really worried about not being able to talk to you about this," he paused. "I want this to work, I want you-me, us to work. So I promise, no secrets, no lies, whatever happens, I'll always be honest with you."

Sarah felt her heart leap up in her chest like it did when he told her he loved her. No secrets, no lies, that was what normal people had (or were supposed to at least), with spying, lying and deception was a key part of the job. Now Chuck was promising total honesty between them. She felt his hand close around hers and stroke her knuckles with his thumb. Sarah smiled, he wanted this to work, clearly very much.

"No secrets, no lies," Sarah repeated. "Okay. I promise." She knew that it was hard to do that in the world they lived in, the world that they were a part of, but this was real, they were real. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before.

"I'm not gonna do it," he whispered.

"What?"

"Work on the Intersect. If it's gonna mean that I'm going to be in constant danger, simply because I have information about it...if it means you would be in constant danger more than you already are when we're out in the field, I couldn't do it."

Half of Sarah was relieved, the other half was worried. She couldn't be the decider of his decision. This could be something big in his career. What if he woke up tomorrow or in a month, or in ten years and regretted his decision?

"Chuck...I can't be what makes you choose what path to take. You need to make a decision because you think it's right," she said. "I don't want to be the person who might one day be the one who makes you regret this."

"You are definitely a factor in this decision, Sarah. But you're not the whole reason," he explained. "The CIA has lots of qualified agents for this. I mean, being an agent on its own in a dangerous thing, this is like multiplying the danger by 10 fold if anyone found out. I'm gonna decline the offer."

"Chuck," Sarah spoke up as soon as a thought popped into her head. "You know that if Graham really wants you on this project, he'll find a way to get you to work on it. The CIA can pretend to be accommodating, but...usually if they want something, they find a way to get it."

"I know," he paused. "I guess we'll have to see just how badly the CIA wants me to work on the Intersect."

"I guess we will."

* * *

Chuck declined Graham's offer to work later that day. They spent the day together and the night too. Graham seemed to have taken it well, but Sarah was still suspicious what he was going to do. He may have been her mentor, but she didn't trust him, not one bit when it came to this sort of thing. The CIA trained their agents to be manipulative.

It was early morning, four or maybe five, she was awake, strange given she had murdered many an alarm clock for waking her up. But her mind was too occupied for her to rest, no matter what her body was telling her.

Chuck loved her. _Her. _The sweetest, kindest guy, she had ever met, who wasn't too changed by the spy life, who still called his sister at least twice every week, to see what was up, who, despite his job still found time to make sure she was happy and their relationship was always strong. He had friends and family and hobbies and all these normal things she didn't know about and how to do.

Getting up from bed, she pulled on a robe and Sarah heard Chuck groan a little as the mattress raised a little bit, but he was still asleep. She walked into the kitchen and checked the time. It was five, the sun was barely up, why should she be? Sarah put on a pot of coffee and stared out the window from the kitchen counter.

He loved her, problem was, she didn't know how to love, hell, she couldn't even say it! He had declined what could have been a major stepping stone in his career, for her (at least partly). What was love, anyway? Her father taught her a lot, that wasn't one of them. She had strong feelings for him, cared about him, worried when he was in danger, loved it when he was around, trusted him and his presence made her feel safe. Safety was a feeling that spies rarely or never experienced.

But maybe that was only part of it.

Chuck loved Sarah Walker, but if he found out who she was before Sarah, would he still feel the same way? If he found out that she used to be Jenny, Katie, Rebecca, all those other aliases throughout her childhood. God, this would be so much easier if they were normal, if she was normal. Hell, everything would be easier if everything was normal. But it wasn't.

What if she messed up? What if something happened that change done of them? What if someone better for him came along? What if for some reason, they were torn apart by the CIA? What if, what if, what if...

Sarah was so caught up in her thoughts, she didn't hear when Chuck get up and enter the kitchen. He snaked his arms around her waist, she jumped slightly at his touch, but quickly settled back into it.

"Sarah? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, you just startled me, that's all."

"Okay, now I know something's up. Talk to me," he said soothingly.

"I'm just thinking, maybe I just zoned out for a moment, there," she assured him.

"You can talk to me, you know? About anything."

"I know."

"Why are you up so early?"

"Couldn't sleep. I made coffee."

He furrows his brow, it's not really like her. Chuck is a spy after all, and even if he wasn't, he could tell something was up with his girlfriend.

"Sarah," he cooed. "Come on, tell me what you're thinking." He said it in a gentle way, that wasn't pushing.

She closed her eyes for a second. "Just about us."

Chuck raised his brow in interest. "What about us?"

Sarah sighed. She trusted him, he was her boyfriend, he deserved to know. No secrets, no lies, they'd promised.

"I've been thinking about what you said the other day."

"I-oh, yeah," he quickly realized what she was referring to. Sarah had told him how she felt, but she couldn't say those words. That was okay, he didn't say it to hear it back. But what was this about? "What about it?"

"Did you really mean it?"

This took him by surprise a little. "Of course I meant it! Why wouldn't I?"

"I'm sorry, I just needed to..." she trailed off a little. Sarah turned around and Chuck found himself staring into her gorgeous blue eyes. "When you said that-that you loved me, in my head I just freaked out a little bit." _'Bit of an understatement,'_ she thought. "It's just I moved around a lot growing up and when I joined the CIA...I never really had a real relationship before, especially not one where I felt like I do now," she breathed.

"Love...it's kind of a foreign concept to me and I don't really know how to love you or what being in love feels like, or what to do at all, really," Sarah explained. Her eyes shot down to the floor for a second. "This must make me sound pretty incompetent as a girlfriend-"

"No it doesn't," he quickly cut her off. "Sarah, loving someone is not something you learn, it's just something you feel and what you do when you're in love...It's all kind of on impulse, but it's good," he assured her. "Look, I know that a lot of people do stupid things for love and I don't doubt that I would for you," he moved up his hand and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "But it's a good thing, I promise."

"And," he smiled. "It does not make you sound incompetent as a girlfriend. Because you, Sarah Walker, are the best girlfriend ever and I am lucky that you would give me the time of day."

"Well that was fairly eloquent for five o'clock in the morning," a smile managed to come to her face.

He pulled her in closely and they kissed, briefly escaping to a world where nothing else mattered but the two of them. When they pulled apart, Chuck pulled her into a hug.

"I love you, okay? Nothing can ever change that. And whenever your ready to say it, I'll be here," he promised.

"Thank you, Chuck," she said as she relaxed into his embrace.

* * *

**_CIA Headquarters  
Director Graham's Office  
Washington DC  
_**

"What do you mean it was stolen?" Graham barked through the phone.

"It was Fulcrum, sir. One of their agents stole the Cipher from us."

"How the hell are we supposed to complete the Intersect with the Cipher in the hands of Fulcrum!" He was furious. "How are we going to get it to go online?"

"We have Intel that a mercenary, Mr. Colt is in possession of it. There's a Fulcrum facility in LA, we have reason to believe that's where he is. They're trying to complete their own Intersect, Sir."

Graham sighed and contemplated his options. Finally deciding, he spoke back into the phone.

"Keep tabs on this Mr. Colt and whatever Fulcrum's up to," he replied. "I'm sending in two of my agents."

"Sir, the NSA has decided that they want to send in their own agent, a Major Casey, I believe."

Graham groaned inwardly. Of course Beckman was trying to get in on this. "I understand. Keep me updated on the Intel, I'll have my agents in LA as soon as possible."

"And sir, there's one more agent on this assignment, I believe he got caught up with Major Casey during his last mission..."

* * *

**AN: Who's the agent on the mission? Is Graham really okay with Chuck deciding not to work on the Intersect project? You know me, I always try to throw some Charah your way and again, I sincerely apologize again for taking so long to update, truth is, I can tell it's going to be a stressful year at school. Will try to update when I can.**

**Hope you guys enjoyed and please review. **


	16. Surprise!

**********AN: Not gonna state excuses for not updating. But I will tell you this, however: I HATE MATH. That pretty much sums it up. Anyway, enjoy the latest addition to United By Red Tests and pleas leave a review.**

* * *

**********Chapter 16: Surprise**

_**********CIA Headquarters  
**__**********Washington DC  
**__**********Director Graham's Office**_

"And sir, there's one more agent on this assignment, I believe he got caught up with Major Casey during his last mission..."

"Don't keep me waiting, Johnson, who is it?" Graham replied.

The agents voice suddenly got a lot quieter. "Bryce Larkin."

Graham thought he heard wrong, or this agent had a sick sense of humor. He was sure, it was one of those. Never in a million years would he have thought this was the truth. "Don't joke with me, Agent, don't joke about that. Who is it?"

"It, it is Larkin, sir. Came straight from the NSA."

"Are we talking of the same Bryce Larkin who betrayed his country? The same Bryce Larkin who is dead?!" he almost yelled.

"I believe so sir."

Graham was pissed and confused. Larkin was dead, he knew, he ordered it and now he'd somehow got tangled up in this mission with an NSA agent. He frowned, something- well, everything, actually- didn't sit well with him about this. Nevertheless...

"Alright, Johnson," Graham sighed. "Keep me posted."

"Yes, sir." The call disconnected.

The director of the CIA, then punched in a number on a secure line. The voice that spoke to him on the other end was calm and fairly relaxed, given the current predicament. It was like she was just being calm to piss him off.

"Langston. This is a surprise."

"Dianne, what the hell is Agent Larkin doing, well, alive!?" he essentially burst out.

"You can relax, Langston," Beckman said, it was pretty clear there was a smirk on the other end of the line. "It's a long story, you may want to clear your schedule for a while."

"What the hell is going on, Dianne? Why is my _dead _agent working on a mission with the NSA," Graham thought that since he had used the words "My agent" it was best if he didn't mention the fact that he was a rogue agent.

"Your agent? You man need some fact checking done, Langston," she replied. "Bryce Larkin no longer works for you."

_'No shit, he was supposed to be dead' _Graham sneered in his thoughts. "Oh?" he questioned through gritted teeth.

"He is now an agent of the National Security Agency."

Had he not been in good shape, Graham thought he might have a heart attack right there and then. "I want answers. _Now, _Dianne."

"I don't answer to you, Langston," she shot back. "But, I suppose, I'll fill you in."

* * *

**_Chuck's Apartment  
Washington DC_**

"Sarah, you have to get up," Chuck shook his girlfriend who had her head under the covers.

"No... leave me alone. I want to sleep," she moaned.

"It's almost noon, come on," he said, pulling the covers from her head.

"No!" she snatched them back.

"No?" Chuck raised a brow. "Sarah, come on." She refused to move. "Alright, you've forced my hand." He then proceeded to lift the covers at the foot of the bed and tickle her feet. Almost in an instant, she was up and panting in between laughs.

"Chuck...Please...stop...Ha!...Chuck!" she flailed her legs, attempting to get him to stop and accidentally kicked him in the torso.

"Ow! Sarah, watch it, the CIA trained those legs you know?"

"Sorry," she sat up and smirked. "But to be fair you wouldn't let me sleep in. All's fair in love and war."

"Good point, Agent Walker," he replied with a smile.

"Does it hurt?"

"A bit. Damn, you gotta watch those legs," the smiel still on his face.

"Aw...poor baby. Want me to kiss it better?"

"Ah, you know what? It doesn't actually hurt that bad," he said quickly not wanting to sound like a wimp. She lifted up his shirt and kissed the spot she ha accidentally hit and then slowly up.

"That sounds good, yeah," he said, changing his answer, quickly.

They were back on the bed, very quickly , but as they were engaged in their little world. Reality had a way of kicking in when you least wanted it to. Reality so happened to come in the form of a phone ringing.

"What? What? Why?" Chuck mumbled, rolling onto his side and picking up the phone on his bedside table. Graham. Damn.

"Carmichael, secure."

"Agent Carmichael, I need you to contact Agent Walker immediately. The two of you have a briefing to get you ASAP," and then he hung up.

"Mission?" Sarah asked.

"Mission."

* * *

_**********30 Minutes Later  
CIA Headquarters  
Washington DC  
Director Graham's Office**_

"You have a new assignment," Graham said. It was clear that he wasn't happy. "A part of the intersect computer, the Cipher was stolen by Fulcrum. We have Intel that Fulcrum are trying to created their own Intersect, so it's crucial that we get the Cipher back?"

"Well, where is it?"

"A mercenary, named Mr. Colt, we believe is working for Fulcrum and is in possession of it. We've tracked him down to a LA, where we believe there is a Fulcrum facility somewhere. Our main objective is to find Colt and retrieve the Cipher at any cost."

"What's so important about the Cipher?"

"It's one of the key components of the Intersect. It's essentially the brain.

of the whole computer and if we don't get it back or Fulcrum get's their hands on it..." he drifted off. "The point is, we can't allow that to happen under any circumstances."

"So when do we leave?"

"The two of you are scheduled to leave tomorrow afternoon. Every second that we don't have the Cipher is another chance for Fulcrum to complete their Intersect."

"So why wait?" Sarah questioned. "If this is so important, why not leave sooner?"

"Major Casey will be accompanying you again in this mission, as will, Agent Larkin-"

Chuck knew he wasn't supposed to interrupt his superior, but...

"Bryce Larkin? Isn't he supposed to be, well..." he tried to find a way to phrase his words correctly.

"Dead? Agent Carmichael?" Graham said. "Yes. But apparently he was revived by Fulcrum after his death. General Beckman orchestrated a deal with him to have him work undercover for the NSA after he got caught up on a mission with Major Casey."

"What's his cover?"

"As far as anyone knows, he is still dead. Only a handful of people in the intelligence community know this and it is to stay that way. Understood?"

"Understood, sir."

"Agent Carmichael," Graham turned to Chuck. "I'm assuming that you will remain completely professional, I know that you and Larkin had a past friendship. But, I trust you will put the retrieval of the Cipher first at all costs."

"Absolutely, sir."

"Director, where will Larkin be staying on this mission?" Sarah asked. "It's too much risk if he is in public as long as his cover is that he is dead. Especially if he is seen by Fulcrum, working with us."

"He'll be in an underground CIA base when he's not on a mission. You're right, Agent Walker, it does pose as too much of a threat to the operation if he is in public for longer than he has to be. I don't trust Larkin or the NSA at this point, I may never again," he said. "Keep an eye out for anything suspicious or that could be related to Fulcrum while on and off the mission. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," the two agents said in unison.

"Good. Dismissed."

* * *

_**********The Following Afternoon  
NSA Airfield  
2:30PM **_

Chuck had said little to Sarah or to anyone since the discovery that his college roommate/fraternity brother/ one of his best friends / rogue CIA agent had apparently risen from the dead. He didn't really want to talk about it, which was extremely un-Chuck like.

The two CIA agents made their way aboard an NSA jet, which was to fly them to California for the mission. Inside, they could see the large exterior of Casey, who was seated behind Bryce Larkin, who apparently was handcuffed to the seat at his right hand. Apparently Casey didn't trust him very much.

"Casey, wonderful to see you again," Chuck tried to crack a joke.

This was only acknowledged by a grunt and a mutter of "Carmichael, Walker," as the greeting.

"Hey, Chuck," Bryce greeted, trying to wave, but his right hand was cuffed to the armrest. So he waved with his left hand instead.

"Bryce," Chuck acknowledged with a nod.

"Agent Walker," Bryce said.

"Agent Larkin."

"Well we all have names, aren't we important?" Casey grunted from behind Bryce's seat, with the latest issue of Guns and Ammo in his hands.

Bryce tried to tug at the cuff, but it remained fastened to the seat next to him. He sighed and attempted to look back at Casey, who was apparently engaged in an article about a new sniper rifle that had a night vision scope and had been tested with a 98% accuracy fire.

"Casey, how am I supposed to use the bathroom with this thing?" he asked.

"Flight isn't that long, Larkin," came the reply. "Hold it in if you have to."

"Can't you just let me out? We're working for the same team, Major," Bryce stated. "We are on the same side."

"I don't trust you," was the response. No sugar coating, no beating around the bush. Straight out- I don't trust you- that was Casey for you. "You really want out? You went to the farm, you trained, you know how to get out of handcuffs."

"I'm not going to break my thumb to go to the bathroom," Bryce replied. Broken bones don't help on missions, especially when your cover is that you're still dead and you had to wrap up said mission as fast as possible.

"Fine."

The plane had taken off. Casey was in his seat, apparently done with the magazine, but still watching the man in front of him like a hawk. Sarah could tell Chuck was still uneasy about this whole thing, she couldn't blame him.

"You should really talk to him," she whispered.

"What? Why?"

"Because you are obviously confused and uneasy about this and you deserve some answers," Sarah said.

"Sarah, the last time I talked to him, if you don't remember, I was fed information that almost got me killed. It would have if you and Casey and the team of snipers weren't there," Chuck countered.

"Chuck," she spoke. "He has a deal with the NSA, whatever it is, you can at least try to get some answers," Sarah saw he was about to interrupt, so she continued quickly. "I am not saying that you should pick up right where you left off after college, I'm not saying ignore everything that has happened. I am saying that Graham probably isn't going to give us too many details on this, and he was your friend, after all. Get some answers."

"What about you?" he asked.

"What about me?"

"I mean, we are on this mission together. How come you don't get answers too?"

Sarah sighed. "I reckon that he'll be more open to giving you some answers, you- his old friend- than he will be to me, a random agent he met on a mission."

"For the record, if I was the one handcuffed to the armrest, working a deal with the NSA, I'd spill everything to you if you asked," Chuck said with a small smile.

"Thanks. But you know that I'm right. Besides, if he does try anything, Casey is right behind you and I know for a fact, his trigger finger is always itching."

"Thank you," Chuck said, getting up from his seat and walking over to Bryce's. He had no idea how this was going to go, but Sarah was right, he did need some answers to this whole thing if he was going to perform well on the mission.

"Chuck," Bryce said as he noticed his old friend walking towards him.

"Hello Bryce," Chuck said. "Do you mid if I..." he gestured to the seat.

"Yeah, go for it."

Chuck took a seat next to Bryce.

"I would have gone to talk to you, but uh," he tugged his right arm, making it clear he was reffering to the handcuff. "Casey doesn't trust me."

"I heard. So the reason I'm here is-"

"You want to know why I'm not dead and why I'm working for the NSA," he finished. "What? Am I right?"

"Yeah. Both were just a..."

"Surprise?"

"More like a shock. I think shock is a better way to put it."

Bryce shrug and chuckled a little bit. "Whatever you say, man."

"So you're not...dead? What happened there?"

"You know that's confidential, Chuck."

"So...What? We're buddies one minutes and the next minute you can't tell me jack shit about how you're back from the dead?"

"Didn't Graham fill you in?"

"You know that whatever he told us is not the full story," Chuck stated. "Bryce, I'm not telling you to defy whatever orders the NSA have given you, but we were friends. But aside from that, I am also an agent working on this mission. I have the same goals to take down Fulcrum. I think I at least deserve to know what the hell happened."

Bryce considered what his old friend was saying before nodding his head in agreement. "Okay, you're right. You do at least deserve to know. Here goes."

* * *

_**Flashback  
**__**Several Months Prior to Current Mission**_

_**[Note: Italics is Chuck and/or Bryce talking in present about the flashback]**_

_"After I was declared rogue and a traitor, I was supposed to be...well, killed. And I was, I was shot, there was blood, there was darkness and then..."_

He was dead. Blackness, a bullet, blood, he was dead. The light had gone out of his eyes. Bryce Larkin was not what you'd call a God fearing man, but this was it. Whatever religions and scientists debated about what happened after death, he was about to experience it.

Heaven? Hell? Reincarnation? Nothingness?

And then...

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The light suddenly came back into his eyes as he was jolted awake. From death? There were machines and people surrounding him. Medics? No, no, not paramedics. The CIA were too smart for that. And then he recognized a familiar face. Familiar in a bad way.

_"Fulcrum?"_

_"Fulcrum. It was an Agent I had seen on a mission, him name was..."_

Vincent Smith. Bryce had no idea what was happening, one moment he was dead, the next, he was...alive? Surrounded my beeping machines and agents. Another shock was administered to his chest to get his heart rate going. For a guy who had just died, his heart was beating pretty fast right now.

Vincent's face was staring right into his piercing blue eyes as he tried to shake off the feeling of being woken from the dead. How they had managed to do that, he had no idea. But he knew that they were in no mood for games and there would only be one thing that would make them keep him alive. Bryce wasn't sure if they had known about his capture or not.

"Larkin?" Vincent called. "Where is the Intersect?"

Bryce was still dazed. It was like being hungover, plus being stones, plus someone waking you up in the middle of the night and you're still half asleep. He couldn't make out the question, everything was shifting focus between blurry and kind of clear.

"Larkin," he called again. "Where is the Intersect?" he repeated.

With all of his strength in his current status, Bryce barely managed to lift his arm and outstretch his index finger and tap the side of his temple, twice, very weakly. With the little energy he had, he managed to say:

"Right here."

_"You made them think you downloaded it?"_

_"Of course. Chuck, if I hadn't... if they knew that I didn't have it. I would be dead. I wouldn't be telling you this story."_

_"So what happened after that? How did you get entangled with the NSA?"_

_"Well..."_

It had been a while since Bryce had gone back undercover in Fulcrum. The only problem was that he had nobody to report to, every intelligence agency thought he was rogue and a traitor. And dead, let's not forget dead.

There had been a mission to steal a piece on Intel, but as it turned out the NSA had caught wind of it. The microchip with the Intel was in Bryce's clutches as he ran as fast as he could to get out of the building. A SWAT team was already on its way and he could hear bullets hitting walls as he attempted to make his escape.

Bryce was almost out. He was so close and then...

"Freeze! Lower your weapon," it was the gruff voice of the NSA Major Casey.

Bryce, sensing now way out of this, did as he was told. Hiding the chip in as he tossed his gun across the room.

"Turn around."

Again, with no way out, Bryce did as he was told.

"Larkin! What the hell? Aren't you supposed to be..."

_"He didn't shoot you?"_

_"Oh no, I'm sure he wanted to. He definitely wanted to shoot me. But it was damn confusing for him, I would have been too. I was brought in. General Beckman worked out a deal that I would work undercover in Fulcrum for the NSA, but my cover was to remain that I be dead to the rest of the world."_

_"So...after this mission?"_

_"I go back, take down Fulcrum from the inside. I'm only here because the deal was worked out fairly recently and I figure that Beckman wants to make sure all of the Intel I'm providing is good and provide some information on this mission."_

* * *

**_Present Time_**

"So...you really were undercover?" Chuck said, more to himself than to Bryce. He was pretty taken aback after hearing the story.

"Should've trusted me the first time Chuck."

"Bryce, look-"

"No, man. I get it. It was my word against a shitload of evidence against me. As for Paris... I heard that it almost..." he trailed off. "I really thought that it was going to..."

"Work out as you hoped?" Chuck raised a brow.

"Yeah," Bryce replied. "Well, past is past and we have a mission at hand to deal with right now."

* * *

**AN: The End!...Of this chapter. My initial idea for this chapter was really different,actually, but one idea leads to another and another and, well, you know what happens. **

**Also, if any of you guys read my story Chuck vs The Office. I have a sort-of-sequel published, called Chuck vs The Office: Epilogue Series, which is kind of a compensation since I don't have too much time to write an actual sequel. So check that out if you want. **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Tell me what you think. Please review. **


	17. A Lot Can Happen in One Mission

**********AN: No way! Is this an update for United By Red Tests in under a month! It can't be! It is! Yes, it is possible! Okay, enough talking to myself. With mid year exams just around the corner, I figured to post this chapter before I had to start to study for large amounts of time. I actually wrote it a few days after posting chapter 16 if you can believe that. I must warn you though, it may be kind of bad because it's very vague on a lot of things, but trust me, I have a plan...Don't quite know what it is yet but I'll think of something (LOL, JK, of course I have a plan...kind of). **

**********Anyway, even if it is kind of bad, I still hope you can enjoy it or suffer through it at the very least. Please leave a review. **

* * *

**********Chapter 17: A Lot Can Happen in One Mission **

While Bryce's story was believable and was apparently reliable enough by General Beckman's standards, Chuck wasn't sure if he could trust him yet. Trust the man who had almost killed him with information about Fulcrum. Whether he was acting or not, Bryce played the role of 'sorry best friend' rather well, but the CIA taught you how to act like you felt something you didn't. Agents were masters in the art of false emoting.

"I'm gonna go back to my seat," Chuck said quickly.

"Come on, man. You gonna leave me by myself for the rest of the flight?" Bryce joked.

"Sorry, Bryce. I have some things I need to discuss with my partner."

With that said, Chuck stood up from his seat next to Bryce and headed back to sit with Sarah and fill her in on what he'd just learned. He took his seat next to her once again.

"So what did you find out?" she asked. Sarah had her phone in her hands, Chuck wasn't sure if she was playing a game or trying to look inconspicuous to Bryce, she didn't trust him.

Chuck told her everything Bryce had said, making sure to keep his voice down low and fairly quiet. When he'd finished, he waited for her reaction.

"Seems plausible," she stated. "But don't trust him just yet. I have a feeling there's more to the story than he's letting on and he doesn't have much proof. I know he's you friend, Chuck. But be on your guard."

* * *

_**Los Angeles, California **_  
**_Underground CIA Base_**  
**_1:00PM_**

The team arrived at the underground base, similar to the one Chuck and Sarah had been to their first mission to LA. Casey had let Bryce out of handcuffs but only because it looked just weird if they went around with a plane seat attached to Bryce's wrist.

They video conferenced with Graham and Beckman from one of the computer screens in the base.

"Agent Larkin has compiled us a list of possible Fulcrum bases in Los Angeles. Colt could be there, it's not definite, but it's probable," Beckman said. "Once we find their location, we'll send you the co-ordinates and your mission is a go."

"While we get the co-ordinates, you, Larkin are to stay in the base," Graham said. "It's far too dangerous for you to be seen outside for longer than necessary."

"Excuse me, Director," Beckman cleared her throat. "You may be right, but Agent Larkin is _my_ agent and I am the one who gives him orders."

Graham clearly was not happy with the General scolding him in front of his top two agents, Larkin and Casey He gritted his teeth and nodded with no further comment. Obviously, not happy about what was happening.

"Good," Beckman continued. "Some of Mr. Colt's past "jobs" have also taken part in LA, we have a list of places that could possibly be his hideout. We need you to go over it, eliminate those that do not fit."

"Remember, the objective of this mission is to retrieve the Cipher at any cost," Graham jumped in.

"Any questions?" No one said anything. "Good." With that the screen went blank.

The four agents proceeded to go through the list of possible hideouts. After a little while, Casey, who was a very "shoot first, ask questions later" type of guy, was not happy with the concept of being stuck doing research, decided to take his research into the armory. Surrounded by what he probably considered friends. Sarah was pretty sure that the guy named his guns.

Chuck, had gone to a room in the base that apparently had a green screen, which, when the right data was put in, was like a full sized Google Earth, but updated to the minute, a big help for finding locations. Being a nerd, he figured it would both help the mission and be kind of cool. That left just Sarah and Bryce in the general area of the base. While Sarah, remained focused on her work, being professional, Bryce had other plans.

"Agent Walker," he approached. "Can I call you Sarah?"

"I'd rather we just focus on finding the base, _Agent Larkin_," she replied.

"Of course. You know, at the farm, I heard about you. I heard that you were the best trainee they'd had in years," he said, apparently ignoring her comment about wanting to work on finding Colt's hideout.

"But, I figure, gorgeous woman like you, great at your job, but you need a break sometimes, am I right?"

"Agent Larkin," she turned to face him. "If this is going where I think it's going, the answer is no," Sarah answered.

"Where do you think it's going, exactly?" he grinned. She shot him a look.

"Oh come on, Sarah," he said, using his first name in an attempt to be smooth. "Just one dinner, after the mission. What could it hurt?"

"Professionalism, Larkin," Sarah replied.

"Seriously? Drinks and dinner, come on. You know you could use a break."

"I'm sorry, Agent Larkin-"

"Bryce."

"Bryce," she sighed (more out of exasperation than anything). "I am not interested."

He put his hand on her shoulder. "Sarah, come on. One date with me, that's not asking a lot."

Sarah rolled her eyes. This was Seduction 101. Establishing physical contact with the mark (even something that you really wouldn't think twice about, hand on shoulder, little things that were almost unnoticeable), helps them feel more at ease with you, more relax so you could do what you had to. _'I went to the farm, Larkin,'_ she said mentally._ 'I know what you are trying to do.'_

"For the last time, Bryce. The answer is no."

"Why? What's the matter? You seeing someone?"

Sarah said nothing. If she told him the truth about her and Chuck, he'd probably stop (though, with his persistence, she wasn't exactly sure). But if he was a complete douche, than he might bring to her superiors some crap about her feelings clouding her judgement. He would be absolutely wrong, but the CIA discouraged non-working relationships with anyone.

"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. Just get back to work, Larkin," she replied curtly. Frankly, she still didn't trust him and he was being rather irritating right now.

"Sarah," he tried again.

_Man, this guy, wouldn't know what no meant if it came up to him on a Tuesday morning and bit him in the ass on the way to work._

"One drink, I swear," he put his hand back on her shoulder. "Or two, three even. You'll find me even better looking than I already am after a few drinks."

In retaliation, Sarah picked up a pencil on the table and threw it with amazing accuracy, so it hit Bryce's half empty glass of water on one of the tables and managed to crack it and impale itself halfway. Bryce's eyes widened, that was...impressive to say the least. And with a pencil...wow.

"I can do a lot worse," she said. "Get back to work."

He didn't say anything and took a seat back at one of the other screens to start working on a list. Sarah could swear she saw Casey smirk from the armory. It was about twenty or thirty minutes later when Chuck came out of the room and announced he had something.

"I think I've got a lead," he smiled.

* * *

The four agent headed into the green screen room. It was very Iron Man, according to Bryce, practically having all of the computer holograph and projected onto walls in almost 3D. Chuck pressed a few keys on the control panel and the screen booted up.

"This is an area around Burbank, this whole compound is essentially empty right now, except for one building. As far as we know, it was abandoned years ago, eight floors plus the roof."

"So how do we know this is the place?"

"Ah, see, it would have gotten someone's attention, but it hasn't because that whole compound is undergoing reconstruction, giving the perfect reasoning for anyone to stay out. Construction site, might get injured by falling things, you know," Chuck said.

"Well maybe it is just a construction site?"

"Yes, but," Chuck tapped at the controls a few more times. "It's been "under construction" for over a year and..." The screen flashed an image of the same compound, only dating one year ago, it looked exactly the same. Exactly.

"No construction's actually been done," Bryce said. "Hell, they haven't even dug a hole."

"Exactly. So, my theory is that the people who Colt's working for, bought this compound to use as their cover. Construction workers, architects, contractors, it would make sense if anyone spotted people there, but because construction sites are kind of a keep out unless you work here thing, no one would be suspicious."

"Plus, if anyone did find out," Chuck zoomed in on the roof of the only building. "There is a helipad right there for a quick getaway."

"You really think this is Colt's hideout?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know, I mean there are thousands of buildings in LA, he could be anywhere," Chuck admitted. "But this is just a lead."

Casey seemed to be rather content with this answer and nodded. "Sounds like a decent lead, first one we've had all day. I'll report to Beckman and see what she thinks. You two should get some rest, I have a feeling there's gonna be some gunplay in this mission. You're both registered at Maison23."

"What about me?" Bryce questioned.

"Not safe for you to be out longer than need be," Casey said. "You stay here, I'll keep an eye on you. Make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"Casey-"

"Either that or I lock you in a holding cell."

"Okay," Chuck said. "Well, thanks Casey, call us if anything you know, turns up."

Casey grunted goodbye and the two CIA agents were off.

* * *

_**Los Angeles, California **_  
_**Maison23**_  
**_3:00PM_**

The hotel was less than ten minutes walk from the underground base, probably why the CIA had chosen it. If this mission went on for longer, it was a convenient location.

Chuck and Sarah had checked in to rest up for a bit before the real mission started.

"Hey, I should tell you something," Sarah said.

"Yeah, what?"

"Bryce...Bryce kind of hit on me."

"What? Really?" Chuck asked quickly. "When?"

"When we were looking for leads on the location of Colt's hideout," she answered. "I turned him down," Sarah added.

"What did he say?"

"Well, he kept asking me out and I kept declining him, repeatedly," she said.

"Hmmm," he looked down, as if deep in thought for a moment. "I guess that doesn't surprise me. You are beautiful and smart and sophisticated and you won't believe how hot you are when you kick a guys ass," she laughed a little bit. "Bryce is a player, trust me, I was his roommate."

"So...You're okay with this?" she asked.

"Well, I mean, he thought you were single, I guess. And well, you didn't say yes, did you?"

"What? No! No, Chuck, of course not," she examined the look on his face for a minute. "Are you jealous?"

"What? No, no, no, why would I be jealous? You said no, so...I don't know, maybe it's just stupid, pride or whatever," he began to mumble. "I should probably have a talk with him, though."

"Not necessary, I picked up a pencil and threw it so that it cracked his glass of water," Sarah answered nonchalantly. "And I may have sort of threatened him when he got a little too irritating."

"Wow," he said. "That is... so awesome! I wish I was there, you totally have to teach me how to throw a pencil and make it crack glass. That is just...awesome," he smiled.

Sarah smiled back.

"And you know, I bet you looked so sexy while doing it," he said. Sarah laughed.

"Really?" she asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I mean you look really hot when you're angry."

She breathed out a sigh of relief and looked up at him. "So, everything's cool? You're not, I don't know mad or..."

"No, I'm not mad. I mean, you are very attractive and you did say no, so, yeah. Everything's cool," Chuck said. He always knew Bryce was a player, right back to Stanford. And while he didn't entirely trust him yet, Chuck couldn't really blame him for trying to ask Sarah out. He thought she was single.

"Look, Sarah, I don't really trust Bryce. Not yet. But this doesn't seem to have 'foul play' written on it," he spoke. "Well, not yet at least."

Sarah smiled and kissed him on the lips. But it seemed to be a pattern with the government. Her phone went off. She glanced at who it was, Casey.

"It's Casey."

"Guess Beckman got back to him faster than we thought."

"Casey," she answered.

"Walker, you and Carmichael get down here. We've got the coordinates."

"Yeah, we'll be there in five," she hung up.

"Mission?"

"Mission."

* * *

**_Underground CIA Base  
3:10PM _**

"Casey, how do we get passed the guards?" Sarah asked. "There's got to be at least a dozen if he's got the Cipher."

"I'm not sure. We don't even know what their security is."

"What about surveillance?" Chuck suggested. "Can we tap in?"

Casey shook his head. "No, if there is any, they're all controlled by Fulcrum or whoever Colt's working for. Best tech guys in the CIA couldn't get in, they're totally fire walled and blocked off to anyone from the outside.

"What about entry point from the roof?" Bryce suggested.

"And how, Larkin, do you suppose we get on the roof without attracting attention in broad daylight?" Casey grunted.

"Well, maybe we don't need them not to notice. Maybe we could use it as a distraction. Get all the agents to the roof."

"What if the Cipher is stashed secretly on the roof or something. Then the plan would have totally backfired."

"Hmm. True."

"What if we created a diversion, outside the compound, that would lure some of the men out?" Sarah thought aloud. "That could give us an opportunity to enter the building."

"Hmm, what if we could get someone to infiltrate the building, but under the guise of someone completely different?" Chuck pondered.

"Like what?"

"I dunno, like a computer repairman, cable guy, lost tourist, someone interested in buying the compound."

"Not bad, Carmichael," Casey said.

"Actually, Chuck, that's a good idea," Sarah said. "If say you pretended to be a businessman, interested in buying the compound, two of us could pose as employees of yours while the other one infiltrates the building. I'm sure we can find a way to procrastinate long enough for one of us to get inside, and then the rest of us can follow."

"That could work," Bryce said. "With enough distraction, I could probably get into the building easily enough."

"Ha!" Casey snorted. "No way, we're leaving _you_ alone on this assignment, Larkin. I'll infiltrate the building, the three of you pose as a real estate developer and employees or something," he looked at Bryce. "You could double cross us, we could lose the Cipher. I'm not willing to take that chance."

"Okay, you know what, Casey, I am so sick of this," Bryce stood up. "Beckman has enough faith in me that I am not rogue. I am working for the same superior as all of you are right now. So why exactly am I so hard to believe?"

Casey stood up to match his stare. "Because once a traitor, always a traitor, Larkin."

"I'm not a traitor, Casey. I never was, I was undercover," he replied through gritted teeth.

Sarah and Chuck shot each other a look. They both didn't really trust him yet, but they also knew that Bryce wouldn't co-operate well if he thought that everyone was against him. So Sarah offered an excuse.

"Bryce, Fulcrum might recognize you is you go in alone."

"Plus, if you serve as distraction with Sarah and I, then you will at least be able to disguise yourself," Chuck added.

He obviously still wasn't happy, but appeared to be content enough with the excuse.

"Fine."

* * *

**_Compound  
3:40PM_**

Chuck entered the compound, looking calm and collected. Sarah and Bryce were right behind them, Casey was hiding somewhere, so they needed to distract the two men in the front so he could get in unnoticed.

"You can't be here," one of the men said. There were two standing at the front of the building, obviously armed, both fairly muscular, fairly thug looking.

"I'm sorry, but I was wondering if I could talk to the owner of the building," Chuck said.

"And why exactly would we?" said thug number 2.

"Well, the name is Charles, Charlie Charles," he spoke. "I'm a businessman, and I do a lot of my work in real estate development and I'd be very interested in purchasing the compound."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Charles," said Thug 1, stepping forward. "But the owner has no intention of selling this place."

"That's why I want to talk to the owner," he said. "I can be very persuasive, when he sees how much I can offer him for this place, his flip and want to sell to me right away."

"Who are those two?" questioned Thug 2, stepping forward as well.

_"Carmichael, I'm finding an entrance to the building, just keep stalling them for a bit" _Casey said into his earpiece.

"Well, gentlemen," he said. "This is my accountant, Mr. Anderson," he gestured to Bryce, whose face was heavily covered by a hat, sunglasses and a fake mustache. "And my assistant, Miss Walters," he gestured to Sarah.

"I apologize, Mr. Charles, to you and your companions," Thug 1, stepped even closer. "But the compound is not for sale."

"What my boss is saying," Bryce jumped in. "Is that this place has some real potential to result in some big numbers, but that's only if its in the right hands. In the wrong hands, it's essentially a waste of a good piece of land."

"The owner has no idea what he's missing out on. What are you two, anyway? Builders?" Chuck tried to buy some more time.

The two thugs looked at each other.

"No, contractors," said Thug 2.

There were sounds coming from the inside of the building. Clearly the thugs heard it, their heads turned. They had to act fast or Casey would get caught.

"What, Mr. Charles is saying," Sarah said quickly. "Is that one meeting with the owner could give everyone a win."

The thugs shook their heads, without a response.

"Well, if I may, you should tell the owner to speed up on his deciding of what he wants built exactly. Cause, the land has great potential in the market. I mean, when did this go on the market, two, three years ago?"

"That does not matter, Mr. Charles," said Thug 1. "You and your companions should really leave."

"This can't be the first time the owner has been offered a payoff. I mean-"

"You should leave. Now."

"Well, I'll just leave my card with you gentlemen and if the owner decides-"

_"Alright, you can drop it," came Casey's voice. _

Chuck released a kick at Thug 2, who was obviously caught off guard, but tried to punch him in retaliation as Sarah took out Thug 1 and Bryce through his hat at Thug 2, temporarily distracting him, so Chuck could take him out.

"They're not Fulcrum," Bryce commented. "Fulcrum hired them, but they are not actually Fulcrum agents. They're not trained like Fulcrum or CIA or anything of the kind. Amateurs, really."

"So what are they?"

"Just henchmen, I'd think."

The three of them, dragged the two unconscious men to the corner of the door and entered the building. The guards were out cold, same for the second floor, as they approached the third floor, they were met by Casey.

"No trace of the Cipher yet. We'll have to keep looking."

The four agents continued to search for the Cipher. Casey had apparently tranqed all the guards on the lower floors, so their entry would be easy. By the time they had reached the sixth floor, they entered a room.

Six men, the Cipher was definitely here. Six clean shots, the Cipher was theirs. An alarm went off.

"Shit, that's not good," Chuck muttered.

"They'll have every guard on the premises here in seconds," Sarah added. "We have to move."

Casey hit a button on his phone. "I just contacted a SWAT team," he said. "They'll be here to arrest these sons of bitches in a few minutes. We have to move, now!"

Shots rang out, punches and kicks and blocks were exchanged as the four agents battled their way to exit the compound. Sarah fought off a few agents as Bryce ducked blows and took a few shots. Casey wrestled against several and Chuck fought his way out of a choke hold to pin down and agent and then throw him against another.

Agents from Fulcrum or whoever they worked for were swarming everywhere as they left the building. Unfortunately, by the time they left, they were one agent short. Bad, bad news.

"Where's Chuck?" Sarah said, on the verge of freaking out. "I'm going back in."

"Walker, the SWAT team will be here in minutes! It's too dangerous," Casey argued.

"You and I both know that a few minutes can make the difference between life and death. I have to go back in," she glanced at the two of them "Even if I have to do it alone."

With her Smith&Wesson in her hand, Sarah entered the building. She knew that one person against almost an army of guards were bad odds, but most of them had attempted to flee. If government spies had entered the building, they'd want to leave as fast as impossible. They'd seen their faces, the henchmen would want to get out as quick as possible.

Sarah almost froze, when she saw a large, muscular, African-American man with Chuck in one hand and a gun in the other. He had him in some form of a sleeper hold She already knew who this was. It was Colt.

"Chuck."

"Sarah get out of here," he said. He had a cut or two on his face.

Colt laughed. "Sarah, is it? I'm gonna make this real easy for you. Put your gun down and give me the Cipher or I kill your partner, here." His gun was just resting on the temple of Chuck's head. Even by an accident, one stumble and he'd be dead.

Sarah could see through peripheral vision that another henchman was behind her with a gun. She was cornered, but she had a plan. She and Colt were standing about five feet apart, the henchman, a little further. Sarah put her gun down on the ground.

Colt smiled. "Good, now the Cipher."

As she stood up from her position from dropping the gun, Sarah reached for one of her throwing knives (concealed in her boot) and tossed it at Colt. The henchman fired shots at her, as she dodged. And threw another one at the henchman. It was impaled in his hand and he dropped the gun, fighting off the pain, he attempted to fight off one very pissed of Agent Walker.

Meanwhile, the knife Sarah threw a Colt didn't hit him. But it was enough to distract him, Chuck elbowed him hard in the stomach and managed to get free. Colt essentially bounced it off, but Chuck had enough time to throw a punch and try to get Sarah's gun. No luck. Sooner than preferred, Colt had Chuck with a gun to his head again.

A bullet, a single bullet, flew past his head, barely missing his bald skull, but soon, Colt felt a sharp stabbing pain embedded in his rib. He looked down, it was one of Sarah's throwing knives, he dropped the gun and fell forwards, clutching torso. Chuck, now free, grabbed the gun and saw Sarah and Casey. Casey had his gun smoking in hand a few feet away and Sarah rushed over to him.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he gasped.

"Casey, you left Bryce alone?"

"SWAT team's here. Didn't trust him to be on his own."

None of them saw, Colt, despite his pain, dropping something on the ground. By the time Chuck could spot it, it was almost too late.

"Sarah, get down!" Chuck yelled as he pushed her out of the way and the three agents attempted to escape. Not fast enough.

It was a grenade and it exploded, like a grenade does. The BANG resonating in their ears, as it set what was in it's perimeter aflame. Sarah had managed to get behind a table of some sort and Casey was far enough away Chuck was one the ground, unconscious.

"Chuck!" Sarah gasped. She shook him and felt for a pulse, he had one. He was still alive. Thank god. "Chuck! Chuck! Come on! Wake up!"

Casey glanced around. "We have to get out of here." He scraped Chuck up and over his shoulder and carried him out of the building.

* * *

_**Burbank, California  
Westside Medical Hospital**_  
**_7:50PM_**

Chuck Bartowski or Charles Carmichael, whichever name you knew him as, stirred. Three things instantly registered with him. 1. He was in an unfamiliar environment, unfamiliar bed. 2. He was in the hospital gown. Clearly, in a hospital. 3. Someone was grasping his right hand.

He managed to sit up in bed, to see his beautiful, blonde girlfriend holding his hand.

"Sarah?"

"Chuck! You're up, you're awake. Thank God," she breathed out, she pulled him into a hug. "You really had me worried."

"Who? Me?" he gave a small smile, wrapping his arms around her as much as he could.

"You saved me," she said, her breath hitching a little. "You saved my life."

"You saved me first," he said as they came out of the hug. "Come on, you would've done the same for me."

"Ah, Chuck," Sarah began, coming out of a rather emotional state. "I have to tell you something, but first I have to tell you our cover story."

"Um, okay, sure. Why is this so urgent?" he raised a brow.

"Well, we weren't sure how bad your injuries were, they're not too bad by the way. Cuts, bruises and a minor concussion. But we didn't know that at the time and we had to bring you to the nearest hospital. Which was..."

"Westside Medical," he said, reading the name off the door,

"Which is..."

"Where Ellie and Awesome work," he finished. "I see your point. So what's our story?"

"We were unexpectedly sent to LA for work and we had no idea how long we'd be staying for. Anyway, we were walking and got mugged in the alley."

"In broad daylight?" Chuck questioned. "These guys are amateurs."

"Some criminals don't like the night," Sarah deadpanned. "It's not a perfect cover story. Anyway, you got injured trying to protect me from the muggers."

Chuck nodded his head. "I see."

"If you think about it, it's not too far from the real story, you know? If you muggers we said a mercenary and a bunch of henchmen. Coming here was unexpected and you did get injured protecting me."

"And I'd do it again in a heartbeat," Chuck said, holding her hand in his and gazing into her sapphire eyes. Their little moment was interrupted when a brunette woman in a doctors coat opened the door.

"CHARLES IRVING BARTOWSKI!"

Chuck gulped. "Oh boy."

* * *

**AN: Can't make a guarantee on when my next update will be, but I can guarantee the next chapter to be chocked full of Charah. I know that a lot of the scenes were very brief and vague on the actual mission and things with Bryce, but I'm bad at writing action scenes and honestly, I thing I may have been in over my head with the Bryce thing, I don't know. Again, sorry if it's bad. **

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that and please leave a review. Reviews are like candy and boy, can I write when I'm on a sugar rush. **


	18. Be Good For Your Girlfriend

**AN: You'll never get this. I had an exam today and then six next week, could there be a worse possible time to get sick? Yeah, this chapter was half written already so I figured I'd finish it already. **

**For the record, I know that a few of you were unhappy with the whole Bryce thing, so I am hoping that this chapter fixes it. If there's anything wrong, grammatically, plot wise or whatever, I apologize sincerely. **

* * *

**Chapter 18: Be Good For Your Girlfriend **

**__****Burbank, California  
Westside Medical Hospital**  
**_7:50PM_**

"CHARLES IRVING BARTOWSKI!"

Chuck gulped. "Oh boy."

Sarah, who had been sitting by his side, sensed the nervous tension in the room very quickly and was suddenly very unsure whether she should excuse herself or stay and see what happened between the siblings.

"Sarah, could you excuse us for a minute, please?" Ellie said to the blonde woman.

"Uh, yeah," she said quickly. On her way out the door, she mouthed 'good luck' to her boyfriend, before leaving and closing the door.

Sarah Walker had learnt first hand that one of the warmest, kindest people, who was not physically intimidating at all, with no agent training whatsoever, could make you sweat bullets when you were be "interrogated", under the guise of getting to know you.

Chuck, still on the hospital bed, forced a crooked smile as his sister sat down next to him.

"Ellie-"

"Uh, uh, Chuck!" Ellie said. "You arrive in LA, without even telling me and then you managed to go get yourself caught in a mugging! I am proud of you for protecting Sarah, but you go get yourself injured and I hear about it through one of the nurses! I don't even get a call!"

"Ellie-"

What do you have to say for yourself?!" Ellie almost yelled in a very motherly way.

"Look, Ellie!" Chuck had to interrupt. When he saw the glare he mumbled a quick apology. Sometimes mercenaries and arms dealers and rogue agents were easier to confront than his sister.

"I'm sorry that you didn't get a call, about me being in town or getting injured, I'm sorry," he said. "Okay, first of all, I didn't know how long we were even going to be in town for, if we'd even get the chance to see you or not. And after the accident, everything was kind of a blur for me, but Sarah was frantic to get me to the hospital, since she didn't know how bad the injuries were..." he trailed off.

Truth be told, it was a pretty lame excuse, but it was the closest to the truth he could go to without divulging international secrets or breaking his cover.

Ellie seemed to have calmed down or at least, let off most of the steam at this point.

"Alright, Chuck, I understand. But you and Sarah will stay with us until you recover," Ellie insisted.

"Ellie, I'd love to. But the injuries are minor, plus the company put us up in this really nice hotel..."

"Chuck! Don't argue with me on this, I am a medical professional. Besides, what did I always tell you about 'minor injuries'?"

"They get major if you don't take care of them," Chuck sighed. He remembered Ellie's words every time he had ever said 'It's a just a cut' or 'It's just a sore throat' or anything of that sort. But he had to admit, Ellie was totally right on that.

"Exactly," she said.

"I'll have to talk to my bosses about a few days off," Chuck said.

"They'll give you the days off," Ellie said. "You got injured from a mugging, if they don't, I'll fly to DC and have a chat with them myself."

The image of Ellie giving Beckman and Graham a talking to both highly amused and terrified Chuck at the same time. So he nodded his head in agreement to her statement. "You're probably right, anyways."

"Good. Now that that's settled, I'm really proud of you for defending Sarah, baby brother, but don't you ever get yourself killed," Ellie said. "I don't want to be notified of you in the hospital on life support ever."

"I'll try my best El," Chuck said with a small smile. He would try, but taking into account what he did, what he really did for a living, he couldn't _really_ promise that to his sister.

"Great," she smiled. At that moment, the two siblings heard a knock on the wall, Sarah had returned.

"Hi, is it okay if I-"

"Sure, sure, come in," Ellie said welcomingly. "Chuck's going to take a few days off work to recover. You're free to stay with us," she offered.

"I'd love that, thank you Ellie."

"No problem," the brunette looked at her brother and his girlfriend and smiled. "They want to keep you in observation of another hour or two, but they'll discharge you after that. I'll see you two at home, later."

"Thanks, bye sis," Chuck called out.

"Bye Ellie."

"Here," Sarah held out a packet of gummy bears. "I got you these."

"Gummy bears, awesome! Thank you," he said, taking them and opening the bag and tossing a green one into his mouth. "So is this your peace offering for leaving me to deal with my sister alone?" he asked, with a big smirk on his face.

"She wanted to talk to you in private, who am I to interfere with 'family time'?" she replied. There was a pause. "So...Charles Irving?" Sarah smiled a little.

"What? Don't like it?" he replied.

"No, no, I just...That wouldn't be my first guess for your middle name," she responded. "I like it, though, Charles Irving, it sounds very regal. Like you're royalty or something."

"Prince Charles Irving Bartowski," he chuckled. "Well for all you know, I could be a descendant of a king," Chuck joked. "In line to the throne in some far off foreign land that we've payed geographers to keep off maps."

Sarah rolled her eyes and chuckled a little. "Really now? If you're in line for the throne in some foreign land, why aren't you there now?"

"Well, if I did stay in that foreign land as a prince or a king, I would never have met you, would I?" he teased.

Sarah smiled at him and stole one of his gummy bears from the packet.

"Hey! Those are mine!" he said in mock argument. She just smile again and gave him a peck on the lips, before resting her head on his shoulder.

* * *

_**Burbank, California  
Westside Medical Hospital**_  
**_9:15PM_**

"Heard they let you out," Bryce said, entering Chuck's hospital room. Chuck had changed back into a t-shirt, jeans and his Converse All Stars, that Sarah had brought for him from his suitcase. He was just preparing to leave.

"Afraid I missed ya," he continued.

"Yeah, well, injuries weren't too bad," Chuck remarked offhandedly. "No reason why I won't be back shape in no more than a week." Chuck looked at the man in his room and took a good look.

Bryce was dressed casually, but he had a baseball cap pulled down and a pair of sunglasses on. He couldn't afford to be recognized by anybody.

"You know, Sarah told me about what happened when we were trying to find the location of the base," Chuck said. The door behind them was shut, so no one outside could hear.

"Oh, yeah, that," Bryce muttered, remembering his ill-fated attempt to ask her out.

"You should've just left it at the first no," Chuck said sternly. "Work is work, you should have just left things as they were," he paused for a moment. "She's a really great person, not some kind of mark who you can flash a smile and use Seduction 101 on to get drinks with her and into your bed," Chuck felt his anger rising, he decided that he had to calm down a little, so he opened his fists, which he had just realized were clenched by his side.

"I didn't say anything about se-"

"Look, Bryce, I know you well enough to know that when you want to bring a girl out for drinks, there are two things you expect to get out of it. One is getting her into bed, the other is if she's an actual mark and you're on a mission."

Bryce didn't say anything, he just looked at Chuck.

"I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt here and go with the impression that you aren't actually a rogue spy who's trying to bring down a government ops team or something and go with you were being a very annoyingly insistent player who got shot down by a girl who deserves so much better."

Larkin looked incredulous. "I though you trusted me, Chuck... Chuck, I'm your friend. I told you what happened."

Chuck glanced down at the ground for a few seconds before reverting his gaze back up. "I'm a spy Bryce, I have to look at the facts and frankly, your story might be believable, but from the moment we brought you in for stealing the Intersect, I never trusted you further than I could spit. I tried to, but I couldn't do it. And you know something? The fact that she had to practically threaten you to get you to back off really pisses me off."

"Is she your girl, Chuck?" Bryce asked after a long pause.

"What?"

"Is Sarah your girl?"

_'Yes.' _"What does it matter?"

"You may think that you know me, Chuck," Bryce retorted. "But, don't forget, I know you too. And you wouldn't be acting like this if she didn't mean something to you. Is she your girl? Are you guys...you know?"

_'Yes she is and I'm the luckiest guy ever because of it.' _"None of that is your business. All you need to know is that she's smart, she knows what she wants. When she says no, leave it at that. " He started out the door, but then turned around before walking out the door.

"You should be careful," Bryce called out, causing Chuck to pause on his way out the door. "You two have feelings, that's a liability in the field. She could get killed because of her feelings."

"You don't know crap about anything, Bryce."

"I know how to be a spy."

Chuck laughed dryly. "Maybe. But you don't know a damn thing about our partnership. I will always have her back, and she's always got mine," he turned around again. "I'll see you at the debriefing."

Chuck walked out of his room and down the hallway, his discharge papers had already been signed. All he could think about was his last conversation in the room, just minutes ago. He had acted cool with it when Sarah told him and while he was uncomfortable with it, nothing had happened. But when Ellie had told him that she was proud of him for defending Sarah (from the mugging, as far as she thought), he realized that he hadn't.

He might have protected her from the grenade but he didn't actual defend her from Bryce. That was not cool (well that was putting it mildly). Sarah deserved a guy who would always defend her and be there for her, on her side, no matter what. He was going to be that guy. Silently, Chuck promised himself that he would always protect and defend the girl he loved, no matter what.

"Hey," Sarah greeted him at the waiting area. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," he looked at her and smiled. "Absolutely."

* * *

_**Burbank, California  
**_**_Underground CIA Base _**  
**_9:35PM_**

"Good to see that you weren't injured too badly, Agent Carmichael," Graham addressed.

"Thank you, sir. I'll need a little time to recover, but I should be good to go after that."

"Good to know."

Beckman than addressed the team. "Now that we have the Cipher back in our hands, the intersect is scheduled to go online very shortly. Well done, agents." Her eyes shot towards Bryce who was sitting at the far end of the table.

"Agent Larkin, Major Casey and two of our agents will escort you to a private airfield, you are going into deep cover. You will be properly briefed on the plane, you are to have no contact with anyone outside. Clear?"

"Yes, General."

Her eyes reverted to the two CIA agents. "Agents Carmichael and Walker, there are excruciatingly few people who know of Agent Larkin's... resurrection and what he is currently doing." All people in the room were pretty sure Graham scoffed under the guise of a cough. "I think it is already said that no one, no one is ever to know about this. As far as anyone is concerned, Bryce Larkin has been dead for months. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'm."

"Good. My agents will be here shortly to escort Agent Larkin. Major Casey, you are clear on your orders, I presume?"

"Yes, Ma'm," he replied.

"Good." With that, the General signed off and her screen went blank.

"Sir," Chuck began to speak to Graham who was on the other screen. "I would like to request that my recovery time be in Los Angeles. My injuries are not too bad, so I shouldn't need too long. As you know my sister works at the hospital I was admitted to and if any problems from my injuries arise, there's a doctor in the very-"

"I understand, Agent Carmichael," Graham said. "You are clear for recovery leave for four days. After that, I expect you back in Washington."

"Yes, thank you, sir."

"Agent Walker?"

"I too would like to stay in Los Angeles with Agent Carmichael while he recovers."

Graham raised a brow slightly.

"For our cover," Sarah interjected quickly. "Our cover with Agent Carmichael's sister is that we are boyfriend/girlfriend, it would seem off if I didn't stay with him while he was recovering."

"Point taken, Agent Walker. You also have four days leave."

"Thank you, Director."

Graham expressed his gratitude for the Cipher retrieval with a nod, before shooting a look of distaste towards Larkin and signing off, leaving the screen to go blank.

Chuck got up from his seat at the table, now that the debriefing was over and Sarah followed suit.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Chuck said to the remaining two people sitting down.

He outstretched his hand to Casey, who took it.

"Till next time, Casey?" Chuck said with a small smile.

Grunt. But it was the sort of 'I guess I'll see ya when I see ya' grunt.

"Casey."

"Walker."

They nodded curtly towards each other, without much else to say.

"Thank you for saving Chuck."

"I just did my job."

Chuck's eyes drifted towards Bryce. "So I guess this is the last time, we'll see each other, huh?"

"Probably."

"Well then, goodbye...Agent Larkin."

"Agent Carmichael," Bryce replied, the coldness clearly seeping into his tone.

Chuck could tell that was mad that he didn't trust Bryce. But he didn't have a reason to, in the world they were in, there was no room for mistakes, for trusting the wrong people.

No further words were exchanged as Chuck and Sarah left the base.

* * *

_******Burbank, California  
**En Route to Echo Park  
**9:45PM**_

"You can tell me if something's wrong, you know?" Sarah Walker always had a knack for reading people. And she could tell the Chuck was feeling uncomfortable about something. She could have cut through the tension with one of her throwing knives. She was at the wheel of the car that the CIA had rented out for them, while Chuck rode shotgun, staring aimlessly out the window.

"I'm sorry. Can we talk about it when we get to Ellie and Awesome's?"

"Uh, sure, okay," she replied.

They drove the remaining time of ten minutes in silence. When they finally got to Echo Park, the wind in the air was stiff as they made their way past the fountain in the courtyard and knocked on the door. They were greeted my Devon.

"Chuckster! Sarah! Awesome! Come on in," he boomed.

"Thanks, Devon." The two made their way into the apartment, Chuck brought their stuff to his old room and returned quickly.

"Look, Ellie's still on her shift, but she filled me in over the phone," he gave Chuck an all too hard pat on the back, which he coughed in response to. "Glad to see you're alright, bro."

"Thanks, Devon. Listen, I'm pretty tired, I think I'll go rest up, okay?"

"Sure, bro. You need to recover."

"I'll come with you," Sarah added.

"Sarah, if you're not tired, you don't need to..."

"Come on, it's fine Chuck," she assured him with a small smile. "Goodnight, Devon."

"Night guys," he replied as he watched the two go off.

* * *

Once they had entered Chuck's former room, which was very much the same as how he's left it. He took a seat down on the edge of the bed and slumped his shoulders, slightly.

Sarah took her seat next to him and wrapped her arm around him.

"Chuck, what's wrong?" she asked gently.

He took a deep breath and began.

"I'm sorry, Sarah."

"For what?" she asked, clearly confused.

"Earlier when you told me about Bryce hitting on you...I didn't do anything about it and I should've."

"Chuck-"

"No," he shook his head. "Listen, I love you," Chuck whispered, grasping her hand. "And, I should have defended you, instead of acting so cool with it. I'm sorry that I didn't do it sooner. I confronted Bryce about it, when he came to see me at the hospital...Not that we'll be seeing him anytime soon, but I just had to make sure he got the idea."

"Chuck, where's all of this coming from?"

He sighed deeply. "When I told Ellie our cover story at the hospital, she told me that she was proud of me for defending you."

"You did."

"From the grenade, yeah," Chuck paused, trying to organize his thoughts. "But...Look, Sarah, you are the most amazing person that I've ever met. And you deserve someone who's gonna defend you and protect you always. I want to be that person for you, that's why I felt awful about not confronting Bryce sooner. That's why I'm telling you all this."

Sarah smiled at him and played with the loose curls at the back of his neck.

"Chuck...You are that person, I know you are. You're the greatest guy I've ever known," Sarah replied. "Look, I know guys like Bryce, they think that a few lines can get them wherever, whatever and whoever they want. I've dealt with them before, those pretty boy types. It was annoying, but, well, you know how I dealt with it."

"Yeah."

"What I am saying is, I know where you are coming from. But I'm not mad at you and as far as your apology goes, it's accepted."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"So you're not mad I didn't defend you earlier?"

She shook her head.

"You stuck up for me in the end didn't you?" she said. "And you were there to protect me when I really needed it."

Sarah could see the tension ease from her boyfriend as he let out a deep breath of relief, his shoulders visibly relaxed and a smile formed on his face. He stroked some hair out of her face with his thumb, gently caressing her face.

"How did I ever get so lucky?" Chuck smiled. "I love you Sarah Walker."

"I love you too."

Once the words left her mouth, the two of them were both slightly astonished. They both knew how she felt, but Sarah had yet to utter the words , but right now she had just said it. She had really just told him that she loved him. This caused the smile on Chuck's face to turn into a full blown Bartowski grin.

"Really?" he asked, just to make sure. To make sure this wasn't a dream. One of his eerily real, lucid dreams.

"Really," she assured, staring into his eyes. "I love you, Chuck," Sarah stated with pure truth in her voice, before pausing.

"What's wrong?"

"When you were unconscious I wasn't sure I'd ever get the chance to say that. I can't tell you how glad I am that you're alright and that your injuries were minor. But, when we were taking you to the hospital and you were bleeding, all I could think was 'If this is bad, really bad, I'm never gonna get to tell Chuck that I love him'."

"Well you did get to tell me. And I love you too," he smiled, gently cupping her face as their lips met in a sweet, passionate kiss.

The two of them changed into sleepwear and got into bed. Given the rather long day they had been through, sleep was a greatly welcomed guest and came quickly.

* * *

_******The Next Day  
Burbank, California  
**Bartowski/Woodcombe Residence, Echo Park  
**8:00AM**_

Chuck stirred in bed. Sunlight was coming in through his curtains, shining to alert him of a new day. He felt the left side of his bed empty and deduced that Sarah was eating breakfast already. Pulling himself out of bed, Chuck stood up and exited his old room toward the kitchen/dining area of the apartment, where voices and laughter were present.

"So Chuck's five years old and all he wants to wear is this Hawkman costume that I made him for Halloween. We practically had to force him out of the thing to go to pre-school," she laughed. "You would not believe what we went through to get him to wear something normal."

"Geez Ellie, I thought you wanted me to have a girlfriend," Chuck came into the room with a smile, remembering that particular costume. He bent down to give Sarah a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning," he greeted, before taking a seat next to her.

"Oh relax, I think it's cute," Sarah told him.

"Really?"

"Chuckster!" Devon boomed from the sink. "How you feeling today, bro?"

"Good, good. Better," he answered.

"Awesome news," Devon gave him yet another pat on the back which was too hard. "I had enough to make a ginseng protein shake for you."

"Ah, thanks, Devon," Chuck said examining the mix of whatever was healthy in a glass. During summer break at college, he would stay with Ellie and Devon and Awesome would always try to get him to drink whatever concoction he had come up with. Chuck made the mistake of trying it the first time. It was made of wheat grass barley and God knows what else.

Ignoring the drink, Chuck dug into the plate of food in front of him.

"So, do you guys have any plans today?" Ellie asked.

"Hmm, well I thought I'd show Sarah the old neighborhood. Show her the rough streets I grew up on that shaped my character," he joked.

"Didn't you grow up in Encino?" she questioned, causing Ellie to laugh.

"Hey, the suburbs are rough," he play-argued.

"Well rough or not, I'd love to come and see where you grew up," she answered.

Ellie bit back a squeal, at the notice of their hands intertwined, but she couldn't help gushing. "You guys are so cute!"

"Thank you."

"Babe, we've got to get to work," Devon said, re-emerging from his and Ellie's bedroom in his scrubs.

"Oh, yeah," Ellie glanced at her watch. "Our shifts start soon, but we'll see you guys later."

"Of course."

"And Chuck,"

"Yes?"

"Be good for your girlfriend." This caused everyone in the room to laugh.

"Of course, sis," he replied, with his arm around Sarah. "We will see you guys later."

"Alright," Devon said as he passed the kitchen table. "Drink the shake, bro. It'll get your wing going," and then more quietly in a whisper to his soon to be brother in law. "And trust me, it's gonna do wonders for you wang."

Chuck gave a half hearted smile and nodded at the comment and called out goodbyes as his sister and her fiance headed off to work. Once he could here the front door firmly shut, he stood up, poured the shake down the sink and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Sarah laughed. "What? You aren't going to drink that magical concoction?"

"I love the guy like a brother, Sarah. But no, there is no way I am drinking one of those shakes again."

* * *

**AN: No idea when next I can update. But I can try. Thanks for reading and please review. Reviews make me happy.**


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